Godzilla: Operation Final Strike
by Admiral Larsen
Summary: Inspired by the battle that took place in the opening few minutes of Godzilla: Final Wars. I'm done with this fanfic. Posted chapter 13 final chapter up. Please read and review.
1. Genesis

Operation Final Strike:

Attempt to flesh out the battle at the beginning of Godzilla final wars.

Disclaimer: Godzilla and related material are owned by TohoStudios.

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Chapter 1: Genesis.

**Tokyo.**

The city of Tokyo was one of the grand metropolises of the world. It represented the pinnacle of modern technology in a nation second only to that of the United States. It suffered many catastrophes such as war, earthquakes and monsters and yet managed to stand tall and proud. Unfortunately though, the war against the monsters took its toll and in a vicious battle waged against one of these monsters, the city almost vanished from the face of the Earth. Almost the entire city was flattened and the landscape resembled that of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The sight of the devastated city shocked Lieutenant General Kitagawa, commander of the First Airborne Division as he observed the ruins of the city from a helicopter. With him was his 2nd in command Colonel Kawaguchi along with the rest of his core staff.

As he looked at the ruins of the capital, Kitagawa closed his eyes and took a deep breath before saying, "I wonder what made the monster attack so savagely that he did"?

Kawaguchi replied somewhat philosophically, "I guess considering the situation we're facing right now, the creature was destined to unleash such carnage". Kitagawa was about to say something but he saw his friend's face and understood that the colonel wished he had a different answer.

The announcement of the helicopter pilot silenced their thoughts and the passengers sat down in their seats as the helicopter descended towards the Diet building, surrounded by tanks, AFVs, and limousines bearing the flags from the other nations. Once the general and his staff emerged from the helicopters, security guards ushered them into a room full of generals and ambassadors from all over the world. Kitagawa looked stunned for a moment before he and his staff found a seat. Soon the lights began to darken and several large screens appeared.

One displayed a map of the world with a red line from Tokyo to the Antarctic while another map displayed that of Antarctica. The largest of the three maps displayed the cause of the horrific destruction of Tokyo, the Japanese monster known as Godzilla.

The room quieted down as a small group of Japanese politicians and generals took the podium. The main lead of the group, Prime Minister Shunichi Otaki took to the podium and paused as he looked at the group. After a few minutes of long silence, the Prime Minister proceeded by saying, "Thank you gentlemen for coming under these dark circumstances". He then paused before saying, "As you know, the tragedy is outside of this building was caused by this creature" he pointed to the photo on the map to emphasize his point. Otaki continued on by saying, "Not only Japan has suffered from the hands of the monster but the monster had struck at countries all across the globe and taken many lives". The Prime Minister looked at his captivated audience and thanked his ancestors since that would make them more receptive to the plan he and his group were about to present and even Otaki had serious reservations about what the chiefs of staff thought up, "In order to end this threat, I propose an all out strike at Godzilla while he rests in Antarctica".

As expected, the room exploded into a torrent of arguments as the international audience absorbed his statements. Some of the Asian ambassadors along with the Australian ambassador started to scream, "Even if this were to succeed, Godzilla will most certainly head back into the ocean and the whole world will be at the mercy of the monster due to this reckless action you're proposing".

Otaki replied, "If we don't do anything, the monster will still head back into the ocean sooner or later and future battles will have to be fought within the cities of the world with enormous casualties to the level that we may have to resort to nuclear weapons". He then paused before saying, "I'll now let my commanders explain the rest". He stepped down and took a seat as his chiefs of staff each took a turn at the podium.

General Takiyama, the commander of the JGSDF forces, started off, "In order for this plan to work, the military forces will have to create a ring of steel around the monster in order to prevent his escape", "In addition to battling against the monster, the ground forces will have to deal with the excruciating weather conditions of the Arctic". He then paused, "If there was anyway other way, we would suggest it but there isn't and considering what we're dealing with, this was the best option that we developed".

He then stepped down as Air Force General Chinatsu Sakai took to the podium. After arranging his notes, the air force general began his own part of the briefing, "The air portion of the plan will be just as difficult if not more so since most conventional aircraft will encounter difficulty in flying in the harsh weather of the Antarctic. He then continued on, "Fortunately, we've found ways to circumvent the problems and they can be equipped to the aircraft of those that wish to participate" "Alongside with massing of conventional aircraft, we'll several large experimental airships to the attack".

The black and white image of the Antarctica transformed into schematics of huge aerial warships with guns and bays for launching fighters. General Sakai resumed speaking as he introduced them to a stunned audience, "These ships are designed for long range combat against the monster with weapons capable of delivering return punishment, and also they can carry a large number of fighters to the battle zone without having to worry about the weather in the area". He then bowed to the audience and returned to his seat as the commander of the JMSDF, Admiral Ryouuske Takagi walked up to the podium.

"For a large scale operation of this size and scale will require an excellent supply and staging area for our forces due to the amount of firepower needed to take on the monster". A map of Antarctica appeared with bases highlighted in red, "The bases established there for research and mineral gathering should be factored in for use during the operation".

A circle then appeared around the icy continent and Takagi replied, "When the operation gets underway, we will support the ground troops with missile and naval cannon fire and act as a last defense should he break through to the open sea". His face suddenly turned very grim and he continued to speak, "Expect casualties to be exceptionally high so think long and hard before deciding to participate in the mission".

Once all three high level commanders of the JSDF delivered their briefings, Prime Minister Otaki took to the podium and stated blandly, "If there are any questions, now is the time to ask"? He paused for a moment awaiting the inevitable storm and it was not long in coming as several ambassadors began to speak. Otaki yelled out, "Order ladies and gentlemen".

First up was the United States ambassador, Mark Cranson, "Sir if I recall correctly, every time your forces go up against Godzilla, he proves immune to all conventional weapons". Otaki paused before stating, "We're trying to find way to deal with that particular problem and so far the countermeasures look promising".

The Soviet Union's ambassador, Dimitri Morzenov, asked solemnly, "Can't we resort to unconventional weapons to deal with the monster and avoid the horrendous casualties such an action is likely to call for"? Otaki snarled and replied, "Under any circumstances, we will not resort to use of such weapons for if we did, it would betray the memories of those that have lost their lives in every war ever since World War II". The Russian ambassador winced at the direct reference to his country's losses during World War II.

Several others voiced their own misgivings and it took a while before the Japanese Prime Minister managed to silence the criticisms and worries that the audience had to supporting the plan, he looked at them all and said, "I know that asking you to assist is a harsh decision considering the expected casualties but right now we all have a common threat to the entire world and we must combine our assets together to end this threat once and for all". He ended his speech by stating, "I will await your decision concerning this matter". The meeting then ended as the crowds broke up into smaller groups and they all headed back to consider their thoughts about the proposed campaign.

Kitagawa and his staff were about to leave when Takiyama stopped them, "General I need you to stay behind for a moment since there is something I want to discuss with you". Kitagawa nodded and walked with the general as his command staff headed back into the helicopter. As soon as they arrived at the quarters of the JGSDF, Takiyama turned to Kitagawa and replied, "First I want to say that you did as much as anyone could in trying to defend Tokyo against Godzilla".

Kitagawa nodded in grateful thanks for his superior's comments and said sadly, "We lost a lot of good people". The general shuddered as the sounds of that battle came back to hammer him. Large buildings crumbled into rubble, streets ripped up to pieces and full of potholes, tanks and other vehicles as well as buildings melted by a blue energy wave and most importantly, was the dead and wounded that littered the streets.

Takiyama shook his thoughts by stating, "But that's not why we're here". He sat down and said, "Due to your performance, I've talked with the Prime Minister and he's agreed to give you the position of lead commander for the operation".

Kitagawa sat stunned for a moment as he realized what it meant. Though ambitious himself at times, he really didn't like having to deal with politicians and a promotion to such a position would certainly entail such difficulties. He paused before speaking, "Are you sure since right now I'm still trying to rebuild my unit".

The Army Chief of Staff replied, "We need every able bodied soldier for this and the First Airborne will be part of the assault as well". Also, the nature of this battle fits your ability and you've had the most recent experience of what Godzilla's capabilities".

Kitagawa winced at that for it was one type of experience that he would easily trade in with the devil himself, "Do I have some time to think about it"? Takiyama shook his head and Kitagawa surrendered to the inevitable, "Alright I agree, when do I transfer"?

Takiyama replied, "In a few days and along with your command staff, there will be those from the other nations that will join you". Kitagawa grimaced but said nothing as he left. He soon found his staff and when they asked the Chief of Staff detained him, he spilled the beans and predictably, they took it with grimaces of their own. They did not discuss this until they had returned back to general headquarters.

**Airbase outside Tsukuba**

To most observers, the air base looked like any other normal airbase in the world except for the fact that there were guard towers surrounding the area and lots of military vehicles patrolling the area. Also, the hangers were much too large for holding regular military aircraft.

Inside the hangers were huge scaffold holdings that encased what appeared to be three large warships? The ships had a circular hull rounded by a pointed tip at the bow and large rocket engines. On the decks of the warships was a mix of weapons ranging from regular machine guns to large energy cannons as well as hanger bays to store fighters. Each contained a large conning tower similar to that of a submarine.

On the bridge of one of the warships, codenamed _Gontengo_, Captain Takeshi Nakano looked on as his crew tested themselves with the new systems. Ever since hearing about what had happened in Tokyo, he had been pushing his men hard in their training since at least that would give them all a good chance of survival when they met Godzilla in combat. Most would have grumbled but they all understood why since many of them were veterans of previous attacks by Godzilla. He watched as the technicians recalibrated the reactor along with the weapons system to maintain continuous fire, especially for the maser weapons.

As he observed the crew at work, Nakano turned to see the surprised appearance of his grim-faced 2nd in command, Saki Udea as he entered the bridge. Before the captain could speak, he showed him the message and the moment Nakano read it, his face turned into a scowl before turning to Udea, "Summon all captains to the conference room, it seems that the order has finally came in to deploy". They both left but everyone could feel something was up from the tension the captain gave off as he exited the bridge.

At every base in Japan, the commanders received secret orders to ready their gear for combat and since the troops were dead tired, it took a long time to gather but when they saw why and where they were deployed, many had grim smiles on their faces since it meant that they could finally take the war to the monster that had plagued Japan ever since its first appearance in 1954. They decided to wait before letting their troops in on the secret.

**Antarctica. **

Except for a few small stations established to either maintain wildlife or to ensure claims on untapped resources, the continent of Antarctica was a barren landscape that was virtually uninhabitable to all but the hardiest of life. Even then it was a harsh existence since due to man's use of industry, the ice caps have gradually started to melt and fears raged abound as to the damage the mantling of the ice caps of Antarctica would unleash upon the world. The fact that it was dark for long periods most of the year added to the gloom.

Except for the howling winds, the landscape remained deathly quiet. Suddenly though, a huge noise cut through another and then another and soon, a large dark shape appeared on the horizon. Though visibility was exceptionally bad, it was not hard to miss the dinosaur form with the dorsal fins running along its back, which glowed with atomic energy every time the monster used its fearsome atomic breath.

Godzilla surveyed his new domain as he surveyed his new domain. The eyes blinked for a moment before he continued his march through the Antarctic landscape, shattering huge ice glaciers and sending the indigenous wildlife scattering as the monster marched past.

High above the Earth, American U-2 spy planes observed the monster's movements in Antarctica and once they landed back in the United States, the officials on the ground forwarded the images to the capitals of the world where military officials studied the photos in the hopes of getting ideas on planning this do or die gamble.


	2. Foundations of an international force

Chapter 2: Foundations of an international force.

**1st division headquarters, Nerima Japan. **

The headquarters of 1st Airborne Division, the unit traditionally charged to protect the now devastated capital of Tokyo, swarmed with military personnel with some of them in the uniforms of the other nations of the globe. When Kitagawa, the 1st's Airborne's CO, assumed command for the UN expeditionary force to destroy Godzilla, the base also became the command center for the growing force and already commanders of the nations planning to participate had just arrived and met with their Japanese counterparts.

General Kitagawa sat in his quarters looking over recon pictures of Antarctica. He looked around for any way to negotiate the harsh terrain but even with the best of satellite guidance equipment, command and control would be difficult at best. Beside it, were stacks of papers dealing with the status of his old command and the schedule of delivery of new maser weapons.

Just then someone knocked on the door and when he announced that the door was unlocked, his visitor entered into the room. Kitagawa sat up from his chair and shook the man's hand and offered him a drink, "It's been a long time Reynolds".

The American nodded and replied, "It's good to be back here again". Reynolds fought in the Pacific during the war, served in Europe after the war for a brief while before the military transferred him along with many other soldiers to stop the communists in Korea. Along that time, he had stopped by in Japan for periods of rest and had struck up a friendship with Kitagawa. Considering the lingering wounds of the Pacific war, Reynolds felt fortunate that he managed to stay sane and achieve much better attempts at reconciliation with former enemies though on some nights, the horrors of the war on both fronts preyed on his mind, depriving him of any sleep. After that he had transferred back to Europe for a while before heading back to the states. Reynolds observed the Japanese man's darkened eyes and replied with sympathy for the Japanese general's burden for his experience had put everyone else's to shame, "Though I wish it could have been under better circumstances".

Kitagawa nodded and then said, "You've managed to get up to speed with the details". The American nodded and then Kitagawa continued, "As you know the opponent we're facing is unlike anything you and the others have ever witnessed before and even if we succeed, we would receive heavy casualties".

Reynolds paused for a moment before spilling his thoughts on the matter, "I'd never thought I say this but it seems that the president's rearmament program may provide the firepower my units may need in order to fulfill the requirements that you stated".

The Japanese general nodded as remembered the reaction of his own people to the US military buildup with all of its attached problems. He remarked, "Funny that you Americans hold life very precious but you develop weapons that unleash the most destructive power on those who are on the receiving end of your temper".

Reynolds remarked, "Would you prefer to waste men or material in a firefight". Hakauyate nodded as he remembered that it was sheer brutal firepower that helped the United States win World War II. Realizing the need to deal with the touchy subject, the two shared a laugh that helped lower the tension in the room. As they took large gulps of their drinks, Reynolds asked a final question, "When will the operation be launched".

Kitagawa sat for a moment in silence before stating, "All I can say is that we have to hit Godzilla before he leaves Antarctica". Knowing full well the probabilities involved, Reynolds nodded and the two shook hands again before the American headed back to his own command staff.

As Reynolds walked onto the field to the sight of command tents and military vehicles of different nations dotting the area, he somewhat mused to himself, "It seems that we're going to have another World War II style Alliance after the last one". That type of alliance helped saved the world against the great darkness of its generation and now the great darkness of the current generation helped forged a new version of that alliance, this time with the entire world participating. The American general realized with a surprised smile that he wouldn't want to be anywhere else for a war to save **all** of humanity was truly a justified war.

At one of the tents, Russian General Gregory Brezarin looked over the map of the terrain of Antarctica. He had experienced such harsh conditions in the fighting for Leningrad and the Russian offensive into Finland in 1944 and knew what to somewhat expect when operating in icy winter conditions. Unfortunately, he and everyone else knew that fighting in Antarctica would dwarf the experiences of World War II in sheer scale and savagery. The worst part of it was that he had to work with the capitalistic Americans and Japanese. He like most Russians never forgave the Western Allies for taking too long to open up the second front and that his country had done most of the fighting that defeated Hitler and Nazi Germany. He tried to repress his anger at the sight of the Americans and Japanese working together and swore to himself the very thoughts that echoed in his countrymen, "Once they're done with Godzilla, those capitalist pigs will come for us".

**Tsukuba City: **

In the huge hangers, Japanese technicians scattered about with diagrams and tools as they hurried to ready the huge flying battleships for the arrival of the dignitaries from the other nations. They had been working around the clock and many had fallen asleep due to exhaustion and it was only due to the presence of the commanders on the base and their tempers that drove them on.

Captain Nakano cursed loudly as he watched it and he revealed his displeasure to Udea, "They should have given us more warning time". He snarled and turned back to the sight of the flying warships, "It'll take a miracle to ready the ships for combat".

Udea nodded and remembered the meeting he had with the engineers for the huge warships and the news they delivered was enough to give him a large headache and he literally yelled at them to hurry up with the preparations. Seeing that they didn't know what was worse, having the captain or the XO screaming down at them, they crews worked themselves hard and had made spectacular progress but it seemed that there were still many problems to be ironed out and time was always against them.

Nakano turned to the _Gotengo_ and replied, "Even if we did get these ships airborne, we still need skilled crews to drive these dam things". He then turned to his XO and replied, "I'm retiring to my quarters for the night, keep the preparations moving so that these things will be ready once the other crews arrive". Saki nodded and the fat Japanese captain started to head to his quarters.

Unfortunately, a loud voice came out over the speakers, "The first wave of recruits and the engineers have arrived ". This caused a groan in Nakano who replied angrily, "I really hate international politics". Udea shook his head and the two headed outside along with several other Japanese officers to greet the new arrivals.

The international groups had just disembarked from their transportation and assembled in the field when the Nakano arrived. He observed the crew and admitted that they were an elite group but trained to fight opponents that they could easily kill and they all had the same capabilities to inflict and receive damage. After observing them for a while and wondering if they could handle the strain of the task ahead, the captain took a deep breath before starting to deliver a speech he had planned.

"Welcome to Tsukuba gentlemen, you've been chosen by your leaders to represent your countries in perhaps the greatest military operation initiated by mankind", "To help achieve the momentous task, you will fly in the greatest machines ever created by mankind". The captain paused before plunging into the heart of the matter, "Perhaps the most important element of the mission is our ability to work together as a functioning unit" "This includes respect for each other as individuals and the cultures of which we all represent and the acknowledgment that we're are all human". He then finished his speech by stating; "Now we'll show you to your quarters and take you through a tour of the facilities".

**Between Yokosuka, Japan and the Inland Sea. **

Not only were the air bases crowded with men, vehicles but it was the same story with the ports of Yokosuka and the Inland Sea where ships crowded the docks while crews struggled to unload military equipment as fast as possible. Despite a tight air of secrecy, the usual rumors started to make the rounds again and some even included jokes that Japan was turning to southern England (during the preparation for D-Day, the amount of men and material in Great Britain persuaded people to joke that the island would sink if it weren't for the barrage balloons hanging overhead). Also, the harbor crews along with that of the Japanese and American fleets worked on ways for the transport ships to accommodate Japanese equipment since the country's constitution forbade it from having weapons of an offensive nature.

Out on the open seas, the ships of the JMSDF practiced maneuvers with the naval warships of the world in order to iron out command and control problems and to help forge a sense of comradeship among those that would have rather commit national suicide before considering asking the other to help.

Onboard the JMSDF guided missile destroyer _Amatsukaze_, Admiral Shuichi Sakai watched the sight with a sense of harsh remembrance. Born in the late 1880s, he had served with the former Imperial Japanese Navy all the way to the end of World War II and had survived numerous murderous battles against the Americans. After the end of the war, he had worked for a shipping corporation but felt restless and when the JMSDF was established, he immediately signed up and returned to duty. Never in his wildest dreams, could he imagine commanding not just a Japanese naval fleet again but also of an international fleet and train it to fight offensively and to die. He mused to himself as he saw the flags of the different nations with some of them being former enemies, now forced allies, "At least hopefully this time the sacrifice will be made for the right reasons".

That thought also occurred in much the same way to Admiral Charles Maxwell on board the bridge of the carrier USS _Constellation_. An aviator all his life, he served in the grand carrier battles of the Pacific before dealing with the politicians in the aftermath and then serving in Korea before advancing to carrier command. He observed the exercises, especially with the Russian ships with a measure of wariness considering the fact that the Russians were now the enemy and the Japanese were now allies during the Cold War. Alongside the _Constellation_, Maxwell had command over the USS _Ranger, _and the USS _Midway_.

Close to the American carrier fleet lay the British carriers HMS _Eagle_, HMS _Victorious_, and HMS _Hermes_ along with the rest of the British Pacific fleet. While _Victorious_ was an old and proud veteran of World War II, the two other carriers were both brand new with the _Eagle_ having only seen noticeable service in the controversial Suez Canal crisis of 1956. Rear Admiral Henry Carver, a veteran of the Mediterranean and Pacific campaigns of World War II as well as Korea commanded this force from the _Victorious_. Unlike his American and Japanese counterparts, the British admiral felt nonchalant about the mission since he thought that they were only going to have to cover the escorting of troops and their landing onto the most inhospitable continent of the world. One thing he was going to hate was the weather there, a sentiment shared by nearly everyone else.

Overhead, scores of naval air and air force units practiced attacking targets en-masse while in a constricted air-space and directed by the use of radar-controlled aircraft. Some would practice attack from high altitude while others launched mock attack runs from the water level.

Everyone, at all levels of the high command, watched with great interest as their troops began the training the Japanese felt everyone would need to survive in a battle against Godzilla. As they continued to receive aerial updates from U-2 aircraft, all breathed in silent tanks as Godzilla was still in the vicinity and it seemed that he wouldn't be journeying back into the ocean anytime soon. Now they all admitted silently that they hoped that the saurian would stay there until they were ready the greet him and unfortunately no one had any idea on how long that may take.

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Note: Since this has been confirmed to take place forty years ago, I've made the necessary changes. 

Please read and review and sorry if this doesn't turn out well.


	3. A test run

Chapter 3: A test run.

**Tsukaba City: **

The city of Tsukaba was usually deserted early in the morning but this time, cars filled the streets and technicians swarmed around the large airfields as they struggled to ready the huge flying warships for the inspection tour by the command staff for the operation.

Most of the focus of the preparation centered on getting the engines up since the airships formed an integral part of the plan. Despite the experience gained from the Mysterian crisis with the _Alpha_ class Aerial Battleship as well as the assistance of those engineers who actually worked on the first prototype of the _Gotengo_ design back in 1963 during the Mu Empire crisis, the engineers labored all night to activate the engines and ensure that they could stay active for a long time in harsh conditions. It was only last night that the scientists managed to get the engines online for any appreciable period of time. Now the crews were making desperate final checks to ensure that everything worked at peak efficiency.

Nakano watched grimly as the crews of the three airships worked themselves to exhaustion in last minute checks. He wished that he could have had more time but as he learned during the war, higher level commanders didn't have to heed the advice of subordinates if they felt that it would get in the way of the job. That aroused another groan of anger as he observed the time on his pocket-watch wondering when the command staff would arrive.

Suddenly, Udea interrupted his thoughts by stating, "Sir, the generals have arrived and a waiting in the control tower".

Nakano took a deep breath before whispering, "Here I go again, playing host to politicians". He turned to Udea and ordered, "Make sure everything is ready to go while I stall them". Udea nodded and took over as Nakano headed down toward the briefing room.

The commanders of the operation were engaged in separate small conversations with the Westerners and Japan on one side while the Soviets and Chinese stood on the other end when Nakano arrived. He immediately saluted before one of them, a Japanese general walked up to him, "My apologies if we're a little too early but we wanted to get a good look at these new weapons while they're currently inactive". Nakano silently nodded before they headed back down the way he came.

Soon the entourage arrived into the hanger deck where the generals marveled at the sight of the huge flying machines with the westerners somewhat impressed in awe while the others, especially the Chinese being edgy since they felt rightly that Japan could eventually stab them in the back again.

Nakano soon dove into explaining the functions of the huge aerial warships and while the Japanese had some good experience, he still had to go slow so that his foreign guests understood and felt at ease around these menacing weapons of war that clearly violated Article 9 of Japan's pacifist constitution. After finishing his conversation, Nakano awaited for the inevitable questions.

The American general Reynolds went first, "How long can they fly before they have to land to recharge"?

Nakano replied calmly, "Based on the performance of the engines of the aerial battleships, these new ships can last for a longer period of time". He then added, "It also allows for a larger more powerful weapons complement". Reynolds nodded in thanks for the clarification while General Brezarin asked, "Can our other crews learn to use these weapons in a short period of time".

Nakano nodded and said, "We've been training very hard for the past weeks and they seem to be progressing very well", "By the time we launch, they should be ready to go and if there any problems, the commanders will be able to help interpret the different orders of the crews". He then added, "We mainly based our bridge control systems on that used by contemporary submarines today".

General Brezarin nodded at the news before asking, "Can our fighters be used as well on these ships since they were designed by you"?

Nakano nodded and replied, "The hangers have been designed accommodate different types of fighter aircraft so there really should be that much of a problem for your fighters operate from these ships". He paused before stating, "As for training, we attempted to replicate the training on a carrier since it seemed closest to the environment the hanger deck crew would encounter on these ships".

Out of the corner of his eye, Nakano saw Udea nod and understood what he meant. Turning to the generals, he said, "If you'll follow me, we'll begin with the demonstration".

They soon returned back to the control tower while on the tarmac, the international crews rolled out the huge warships out on the tarmac. Once the warships were in position, the crews activated their engines; a huge gust of air blew out from the many vents as the huge airships slowly lifted upward into the air.

Nakano and the others involved in the project breathed out a large sigh of relief as the first test proved a success. The look on the generals sobered their thoughts as they realized that each successful pass at the category only lead to more trouble and they prayed that everything else would go right today.

Next came the testing of the maneuvering controls, especially in exceptional circumstances and then the weapons. While there were several close calls, especially in the maneuvering section and especially trying to work together as a team, the operation of the ships in the different terrain features impressed the generals. Next on the agenda were the important tests for the weapons systems.

As the audience observed the weapons demonstration, aides handed them notes on how the crews operated the guns while Nakano walked them through it, "Since the airships will be constantly maneuvering, a mechanism within the vessels will stabilize the transportation of the ammunition from the magazines to the turrets". He paused for a moment before switching to the discussion of the missile batteries, "As for the missile batteries they'll be serviced in a similar fashion in which after a missile battery has expended all of its munitions, the crews will rearm it with another set". Nakano then switched to the targeting systems, "In collaboration with scientists from all over the world, we've installed specialized targeting systems all along the aerial warships that can track the explosions on the monster's body and spot any sign of damage".

When the ships fired all of their weapons at once, the sight greatly impressed the commanders. Nakano allowed himself a grim smile as his mind said, "We've learned a lot from you Americans during the war, especially your desire for enormous firepower".

Finally came the test for the deployment of fighters, which was something that all wondered whether the idea actually worked in practice. Launching fighters from the water was one thing but doing it from another larger aerial platform was pure madness.

On the _Gotengo_, crews started to clear out of the way as the first F-86 Sabers, MIGs, and other jet fighters prepared to launch from the flight deck. Inside, the pilots sweated as they prepared for the signal that would both succeed and add a new chapter to being test pilots or all die in the attempt. As soon as the signal turned green, the pilots turned on their engines and suddenly, the catapults threw them out into the sky.

At first it seemed that the test would fail as the planes suddenly lost altitude but surprisingly, the pilots managed to get their planes under control and soon all of the fighters managed to clear the decks of the huge aerial warships. Seeing this Reynolds admitted out loud, "You know with all of this, it would seem that all of those science fiction authors may well as have been predicting the future".

That earned a remark from Kitagawa who replied, "You Americans always seem to be dreamers".

Reynolds asked back, "Is it always bad to be dreamers and hope for the future".

Kitagawa laughed and replied, "Not really but considering the circumstances, it is somewhat better to have lower expectations". He paused before stating though, "But then after seeing the destruction of Tokyo, I hope that we can finally break the cycle of constant destruction that seems to inflict the modern world these days". Everyone, all veterans of World War II, and some of Korea and other places throughout the globe, nodded solemnly at that statement as they all relived the horrors of combat and the death and destruction occurring all around them. It was almost enough to give weight to the old adage from the philosopher Plato "Only the dead have seen the end of war".

As the fighters landed back onto the deck of the aerial battleships, Nakano took a deep breath before he turned to the generals. Kitagawa took a deep breath before stating, "Congratulate your men and tell them to prepare to participate in the exercises". A huge weight lifted off Nakano's shoulders as the words sunk in. He saluted before heading down to the tarmac to greet the returning crews and tell them the news. The captain reminded himself to drinks ready to celebrate and allow his men to relax since he did push them exceptionally hard during the last few weeks.

**Antarctica. **

Despite the permanent harsh weather, landing teams had already secured areas for which the military forces of the world would land troops and support them as they battle against Godzilla. Already, recon teams fanned out though the harsh weather in search of their target while scientists and supply officers set up the facilities to house the enormous force in the hellish winter and ensure that the equipment functioned correctly without bogging down in the snow, freeze solid, or slipping on the glaciers to their deaths.

Off-shore, warships from nations all over the world circled the area as they covered the landing zones or functioned as gate keepers for their prey. Despite the weather, the tension rose to red hot levels as the crews struggle to do their jobs while dealing with each other and their surroundings. The commanders were even more concerned since they all knew that if Godzilla came out right now, they stood no chance of keeping him pinned in. Everyone in the area wondered when the generals would make up their minds and launch the all out assault.

**

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Author's notes.**

Sorry if this was short since as I've said before, I can't really write well "non-battle pieces".

If you look carefully, you'll see references to the Mysterians (mainly the Alpha-class battleships used in that movie) as well as Atragon.

Since this does take place around the same time as real world events, should I add them in so as to create complications in the movement of forces?

How am I doing with the human characters for this particular Godzilla story?


	4. Briefings and departure

Chapter 4: Briefings and departure.

**Nerima, Japan:**

For the past few weeks, the commanders of the international force had been busy drawing up plans for the operation and it had not been easy due to many reasons: the political sensibilities involved the nature of the landscape, and most importantly, the nature of the threat. Time and time again, the arguments had devolved into verbal slugging matches. Finally however, the commanders managed to draw up a workable plan. Now it was time to convince the politicians and that would prove to be just as harsh as the arguments they all endured in the past few days.

Kitagawa took a huge gulp of his drink as he waited in his quarters for the inevitable news that guests would arrive and the meeting could begin. He had dealt with these types of meetings before and knew what to expect. What he did not expect though was the Emperor of Japan himself would attend the meeting. That sent shivers down his spine for he remembered the few times that he met the Emperor face to face and every time he did, he wished that he would be allowed to go back to the battlefield for he would rather deal with death on the outside than dishonor in front of the eyes of the emperor.

The opening of the door interrupted when Reynolds entered the room with a straight face, "General, the delegates have arrived and are waiting for us". Kitagawa nodded and asked his American colleague, "Reynolds-san have you ever had a chance to meet your commander in chief face to face"?

Reynolds paused for a moment before recollecting "I've met a few face to face but none after Roosevelt really impressed me with the exception of Dwight D. Eisenhower". He paused before continuing, "I remember when I once gave a briefing for him and his cabinet and even though he was open with me, I felt like I've been sent to the hounds", "Still though to meet a **_true_** hero of the war face to face was gratifying for me".

The room turned suddenly silent the American's statements and both realized what he meant. For although **_officially_**, the Emperor was mostly blameless for the war, many felt that due to his status and his education in naval affairs, the Emperor should have realized what was about to happen and therefore bore a sense of at least a moral responsibility since the former Imperial forces of Japan operated in the name of the Emperor.

Putting those thoughts aside, the two generals headed out to the conference hall where their colleagues and the delegates awaited them. The tension was already thick with the Japanese standing in one corner with the Americans, Western Europeans, and Russian and Chinese delegates in line at the front. Each held conversation with the other in carefully measured tones that betrayed the suspicion and mistrust each held for each other, despite the different levels of it.

Taking a deep breath, Kitagawa walked over to where the emperor was talking with Prime Minister Otaki, his cabinet, and a group of American politicians and generals. He was about to pause when the Emperor turned around and replied in formal Japanese, "Good morning General Kitagawa, it is truly a pleasure to be here to watch the briefing today". Kitagawa nodded in quick assurance and replied, "Thank you your majesty, my colleagues and I hope that once you and the Prime Minister will be satisfied with what we've put together". That was partially a lie since Otaki and the chiefs of staff had sat in on some of the meetings and therefore had some idea of the plan presented today.

After a few more minutes of small talk, the conference got underway. The delegates and other guests of honor took their seats while the commanders directly involved in the operation took their seats on the stage with the man in charge, General Kitagawa taking the podium and speaking first.

"Welcome ladies and gentlemen, I'm General Kitagawa, commander of the UN expeditionary force to eliminate Godzilla". He paused before continuing on, "Today my colleagues and I will brief you on the plan for Operation: Final Strike". His face turned somber before continuing, "Many of us here had fought against each other during the war and we still suffer the scars of it every day". He paused before stating, "Perhaps by working together to deal with this threat, we can hopefully begin to heal those scars and truly leave a legacy that generators later will be proud of".

The general then turned aside and used a pointer to mark the areas of Antarctica used for the attack, "As you know, after Godzilla's most recent attack on Tokyo, we spotted him landing Antarctica", "Already we have ships screening the seas around the ocean to keep him pinned in while we prepare to attack him". Kitagawa paused before continuing, "Once the main forces arrived, the naval units will be strengthened to cover the landing areas and prevent Godzilla from escaping". He then paused before continuing with the speech, "Now I'll turn over the briefing to my trusted and gifted subordinates, many who have proven themselves during the war and in recent conflicts to date starting with the American general present here today".

Reynolds winced but took it good naturedly by moving up to the podium, "Central to the plan would be to surround the continent and cover our landing troops as they swarm ashore", "As for the air units, we'll have them based on the southern end of Australia, South Africa, the Falklands and other areas close to Antarctica where they can cover us as we hunt for Godzilla". Reynolds finished by stating, "They'll be armed with experimental weapons designed to penetrate the monster's thick hide before exploding, hopefully inflicting enough damage to slow him down". He then ended his meeting with a bow and took his seat while Russian General Brezarin.

The Russian general paused before beginning with his section of the briefing, "As my esteemed colleagues have point out to us, the battle will most likely occur over continent", "Already, special reconnaissance troops have landed on the continent and in addition to keeping track of Godzilla's movements, they've also established temporary beachheads on ground suitable for heavy vehicles". Brezarin finished by stating, "Once all our troops are ashore, we will hunt the monster down and hopefully inflict a grievous defeat on him".

He then sat down as Takeshi Nakano, commander of the aerial battleship squadron as well as that of the _Gotengo_, took to the stage and began his speech, "A key element of the plan are our aerial warships and the firepower they contain", "They'll hover over the monster while providing continuous support of our ground forces". He paused before continuing, "They will be used by crews that have been specially trained to fly these craft as well as launch aircraft from their decks while the ships are airborne, therefore providing continuous air cover over the continent". He then added, "For protection against Godzilla's ray, we have coated the hull of the ships with the same materials used against the ray of the Mysterians".

He ended his speech with a bow and headed back down to his seat while Kitagawa took the podium, "Now that you've been briefed on our plans, we would like to hear your thoughts about the plan". As he looked over at the audience, the general expected some long arguments and the first blow came from the American ambassador Mark Cranson. The American ambassador stood up and spoke to the Japanese general, "As you know, right now the United States is engaged in combat action in Vietnam and right now we can't afford numerous casualties from this particular operation", "Can you be sure that everything has been done to keep the chances of fatalities to a minimum".

Kitagawa replied, "We tried to consider every possibility so rest assured that we kept that in mind"? The next person to speak was the ambassador of the USSR, "Instead of wasting men and material in useless frontal assaults, can't we find a way to use nuclear weapons".

Despite the attractiveness of the idea to some in the room, Prime Minister Otaki spoke for all of the Japanese when he replied instinctively and angrily, "Under no circumstances will we use nuclear weapons". Kitagawa replied, "Also the damage on the environment in the area would be disastrous", "More importantly if the nuclear weapons fail to destroy Godzilla they could make him stronger since he feeds on nuclear energy".

The next question came from none other of the Emperor, "I'm impressed with all aspects of the operation you've anticipated, especially with that of the fleet, but can we really afford to sacrifice more men in such numbers only twenty years after the end of the war"?

Kitagawa took a deep breath before stating, "I understand your feelings your majesty but the monster will not remain in Antarctica for long and we would not want another Tokyo". He paused before continuing on, "It would be better to engage the monster in an isolated area instead here in Japan or anywhere else". He then paused before speaking again in a clear assured tone, "If we have to lose anyone then at least we will die in the service of all humanity".

The Emperor of Japan seemed to consider the general's words for a moment before he asked again, "When can you be ready to attack?" Kitagawa smiled and replied confidently, "We can depart for Antarctica within two days". That answer satisfied the Emperor and he brooded for a few moments before rising up from his seat and clapping his hands together with the rest of the audience and those on the stage following soon thereafter.

As the congratulations continued on, Reynolds replied to the Japanese general, "It seemed to go well". Kitagawa replied, "Didn't you feel scared, I felt dead frightened at the sight of it all". Reynolds then paused before continuing, "It could have been a lot worse, it could have been dictators that we gave the meeting to". They both saw Brezarin grit his teeth in reply at that statement.

**Tuskaba, Japan: **

Despite the success of the meeting, Nakano took a deep breath as the motorcade drove him back to Tsukaba. Even though the meeting and the demonstration went well, he still struggled with numerous problems, especially with dealing with the many nationalities. Already fist fights had occurred and some of the crews had to spend time in the brig. One of the most famous was a US weapons officer by the name of Douglas Gordon. The American had a bad tempter and fists to match it and it had landed several others in the hospital.

He soon arrived at Gordon's cell where he lied down on the bed with an unreadable face on his features. The room became quiet for a moment before Nakano asked Gordon, "You do know why you're here don't you"? The American just grunted which seem to irritate Nakano more, "You were busy having drinks at one of the local bars when a group of Russians and Chinese came in and when they started talking negative things about your country, you decided to get into a fist fight". He paused before continuing, "Acts like what you do jeopardize my job".

The American grunted again before continuing, "I'm just here since it would help me avoid Vietnam and Europe so I really have no problems". He paused again, "Besides, this is really your fight and you're using us as cannon fodder".

Nakano gritted his teeth even more at the American's impudence and he replied back, "It is only the fact that your file displays the fact that you're a skilled weapons marksman that is preventing you from being sent home". Gordon grunted in reply before Nakano said, "You're spending your time here in the brig until we launch this mission, which fortunately for you won't be for a long time".

Gordon just replied, "Oh goody, some more action". With that Nakano stormed out of the cell, itching to take his anger out of anyone or anything. Soon, he managed to calm himself down enough to turn to Udea, who had just arrived, and order, "Signal all crews to report to the briefing room".

Soon, the entire briefing room filled with anxious soldiers when Nakano arrived. Upon looking at his grim face, everyone realized what that meant, "Gentlemen, we've just received our orders". He paused before continuing, "In two days from now, we will journey to Antarctica and participate in the operation to defeat Godzilla once and for all".

Udea then took over, "On our end, we will be providing continuous aerial cover while our ground forces assault the monster", "The ships will fly at the level of Godzilla's head and continuously fire at his head to prevent him from using his atomic ray". That stunned the crews since no one wanted to be in Godzilla's direct line of fire and no one really could really predict just how resistant the armor would be to Godzilla's main weapon.

Seeing this, Nakano interjected, "We've taken every available precaution in order to protect you all when we engage the monster". He then paused before continuing, "If any of you need to take care of any personal items then go right ahead but other than that, in two days, we _will_ depart for Antarctica". The captain then left the room, followed by his XO while the rest of the crew in the room started to wonder about their own fates.

**Nerima Japan, Several days later: **

Although everything had been going according to plan, there were elements that were out of the control of the generals and weather was the key element. The international strike force needed good weather by the time they arrived in Antarctica so they could attack immediately after landing their troops. Also important was the fact that somewhat good weather in the area meant that the troops on the ground could rely on essential aerial support. Therefore, the generals had driven the weather experts to the point of exhaustion in trying to figure the best guest for what the weather would be while trying vainly to catch some form of rest.

Kitagawa, Reynolds, and their colleagues at around a large rectangular oak table with drinks and food scattered around the table. Some read books while others took sips of their drinks as the clock ticked away in the eerie silence. In fact, several started to show the strain by tapping their fingers on the table.

The waiting mercifully ended when the weather officials arrived in the room. Opening papers and laying them out in front of Kitagawa, the lead official took a deep breath before stating, "As you can see, we've spotted developing weather patterns in Southern Pacific and as you can see, they've started to develop in a menacing way". He paused before saying, "I know that you plan to sail all the way to Antarctica but I would advise that you first say down to Australia and wait while the weather situation clears up".

Kitagawa nodded but stated, "I wish I could really listen to your advice but our target won't coroporate with our estimates here so we can't really follow your advice". The other generals nodded for what was on their minds was the fear that Godzilla would break out into the oceans of the world.

The lead weather official nodded in understanding but stated, "I can't really promise that the weather will be within nominal parameters when you arrive if you plan to sail all the way from Japan".

Reynolds immediately jumped in by stating, "If we have to delay any longer, I don't want to imagine the morale of the troops after another delay".

Kitagawa nodded before walking out to the windows to watch the night sky and some almost imagined that he could see the ruins of Tokyo when attempting to make a decision.

After another eerie silent moment, he turned around to face his commanders, his face set in a grim determined tone, "Issue the movement orders, we're going".

Brezarin slammed both his fists down on the table in support and said, "Well done Comrade-General, we'll make sure to stick it to the monster".

Kitagawa laughed and said, "Thank Kami for you voicing confidence". He then turned to the other commanders before stating to them all with confidence, "Good luck and good hunting".

With that, the commanders started filing out of the room in single file while conversing amongst themselves with a more confident tone than they had not many hours ago. They left Kitagawa brooding in thought for a few moments before departing the room himself.

**Two days later in Yokosuka, Japan:**

From as far as Sakai could see, lay warships of all types from all over the world. Squadrons of cruisers, destroyers, and frigates circled around the carriers and numerous transports holding the ground units embarked for the operation. Though it wasn't the Imperial Japanese Navy in any sense, it was a grand sight to see and Sakai felt very much at home here again. He often wondered what the great Admiral Isorouku Yamamoto would make of such an endeavor.

The _Amatsukaze_ was the last ship moored at the docks of Yokosuka while it awaited its special guest, the commander in chief of the operation. Though Sakai was a patient man, he wanted to get out there now. The gods of war soon fulfilled that wish when Arigama and his staff arrived onboard his ship. The other commanders had already gotten onto their ships already so the staff with Kitagawa was mainly Japanese. After they exchanged greetings, Kitagawa replied, "I imagine you want to get going on this mission". Sakai nodded and turned to his captain, "Move away from the dock and join up with the fleet". The captain hurried to fulfill the command while Sakai turned to the general, "Perhaps you want to freshen up for a bit since it will be a long journey". Kitagawa nodded and he and his staff departed the bridge as the guided missile destroyer glided out to sea to join its brethren. Once in position, the _Amatsukaze_ signaled the fleet, "Begin the advance". As one, the entire fleet started its journey southward with the warships in the front and the carriers and transports in the rear.

Overhead, in a loud roar and to the surprise and admiration of the fleet, flew the three flying _Gotengo_ class warships as well as scores of fighters. The huge ships flew almost perfectly over the fleet while the fighters patrolled the outer edges and conducted drills. As the crews watched the ocean beneath them, the Americans and Europeans remarked that although it was on a smaller scale, this entire operation felt like D-Day all over again. The Japanese veterans meanwhile, looked on with wistfulness since this would undoubtedly be the **_last_** time a huge military force sailed under a Japanese command.

**Antarctica:**

For the troops already on the icy continent, it was a lonely nerve wracking business tracking Godzilla's movement through out the frigid day. Sometimes, the monster would slip into the mists and it would take several days to find him all over again. Also on other occasions, it seemed the monster had changed course and decided to hunt them now when it actually seemed that Godzilla was marching around the island in s stroll. Even though they managed to evade detection and combat by the monster, the troops on the island knew that the main forces better launch the attack soon since if Godzilla decided to attack him, they could only hold him for a few minutes at an astronomical cost in lives.

The monster continued its stroll around the frigid landscape with his feet creating huge footprints in the ground. The monster roared again in challenge against an unseen opponent and paused to look again through the harsh snow. After a few moments, Godzilla resumed his walk throughout the continent.

* * *

Next chapter: The fleet has a long journey ahead before it hits the icy shores before arriving at the continent and to a sudden pitched battle with the king of the monsters.

PS: I'm sorry if this didn't turn out well. Oh and how well did I portray Don Fyre's character just now?


	5. The transit

Chapter 5: The transit.

**Philippine Sea, near the island of Palau:**

The international strike force continued its transit throughout the length of the enormous Philippine Sea to avoid traffic. Fighters conducted standard patrol while the replenishment ships refitted the task force. The three huge _Gontengo_ class warships were also in the water so as to recharge their engines and to allow the flyers to rest.

Admiral Shuichi Sakai watched the view from the bridge with a grim look on his face as the fleet transited through the area. He remembered the last time he ventured here, which was during 1944 when the Imperial Japanese Navy's Mobile Fleet attempted to smash the American invasion of Saipan. He closed his eyes as the events of the battle flashed across his mind: American submarine attacks claiming two of Japan's finest carriers while American aircraft claimed another carrier the following day.

The Japanese admiral turned to see several of the older crewmen having the same thoughts and also thinking about the irony of the situation of which they were now working with the very country that destroyed a lifetime of service to their home. It had taken a while for many of them to adjust to the new realities in Japan during and after the occupation.

Suddenly, the communications net started to activate with a communications link arriving in from the USS _Constellation_. Taking a deep breath to shake his thoughts, Sakai activated the ship's communications console and asked, "Yes Admiral Maxwell, what is it?"

The American admiral on the other end of the line replied, "Admiral, I've just received the word from Washington and am preparing to detach my ships to Southeast Asia".

Sakai nodded and replied professionally, "Good luck and I hope to see you in Antarctica when we arrive".

The American laughed and replied, "I'd rather be in Arctic then in the sweltering jungles of Southeast Asia, any advice on dealing with the tropics".

The Japanese veteran replied, "Unfortunately I never served in that part of the Pacific so I can't give any advice". The American admiral grunted before signing off and soon the three American carriers broke formation and headed southwest. Sakai observed their departure before returning to his brooding.

In the quarters assigned to him, General Kitagawa looked over the latest weather report of the battlefield when Colonel Hakauyate arrived in his quarters. Kitagawa replied in greetings, "So what do you think of this operation so far"?

His subordinate took a deep breath before stating, "It is one massive undertaking with a lot of risks". The general nodded before allowing Hakauyate to continue, "First we have to deal with operating so far from home and in very unfamiliar terrain", "Then we have to work with people with some still wanting us to die horrible deaths so that will be a problem for morale and then finally we fighting against a nearly **_invincible_** enemy". The stressing of the word caught the attention of his superior officer who understood the meaning behind his subordinate's words. They would eventually overcome all of the other problems with but the fact that Godzilla has proven immune to all their weapons thus far did not inspire hope for the success of Operation Final Strike. Both Japanese commanders as well as their international counterparts thanked kami that they managed to keep the information from their subordinates, no matter much their conscience would haunt them for it.

In an attempt to lighten up the subject, Kitagawa asked, "How is the training of the men so far"? His subordinate shrugged before stating, "So far it's been going all right but there have been the usual fistfights and all onboard some of the ships and that's just with the crews".

Kitagawa breathed a huge sigh and replied, "Even though it is to be expected, it is trouble to hear such news". He then paused, "What about the commanders, how are they working out"?

Hakauyate replied quietly, "Most have decided to avoid each other and at times when they eat their meals, they sit on different sides so as to avoid each other and not cause trouble". He then also paused before continuing, "The only time they even attempt to talk to each other is during the strategy sessions although a few have attempted to talk personal matters". The colonel didn't add his own difficulties with talking to the Americans and the Russians when he ran into them in the corridors since he had served as a private during the war and had fought in Burma before heading up to Manchuria.

The room became silent again before the colonel asked his boss, "You haven't had much sleep sir".

The general nodded and the colonel understood for if there was one thing common among everyone thus far was that they did not get much sleep. It was common that the decks of most ships would be crawling with sleep deprived men, wondering if their number would be up this time and none of the senior officers blame their men for they were undergoing the same stress. Suddenly feeling hungry, Kitagawa asked his subordinate, "You mind joining me for a little meal".

Hakauyate nodded and both headed to the ships mess hall where Reynolds was already working through his own meal. He immediately waved his Japanese counterpart over to his table and they sat together for a while before Kitagawa asked the American, "You couldn't sleep as well"?

Reynolds took a deep breath before stating, "With the fact that I'm about to lead the United States military into the type of combat that we all thought World War II dealt with and perhaps equivalent to the American Civil War, do you think I could sleep at all". Both Japanese commanders nodded at his understatement since they too had nightmares of their own during the war and both remembered their nation's military history in all of its savage glory. Reynolds immediately apologized before stating, "I'm sorry if I've seen out of line but I had hoped that with the creation of the UN, we have seen the last of warfare on this scale".

Kitagawa nodded in assent, "After what we all went through during the war I think many here share your sentiments". He paused before continuing, "But it seems fate had another option in store when the legacy of the darkness of mankind unleashed Godzilla on us". That silenced the room to that of a graveyard as Kitagawa's words hung over them all.

After a while, Reynolds attempted to switch the conversation to personal matters with some success. They continued on for this for the duration of the meal before heading back to their respective quarters.

**USS Constellation, In Gulf of Tonkin at point designated Yankee Station two weeks later. **

From the bridge, Maxwell observed the view of the operations from the Constellation as F-4B Phantoms and F-8 Crusaders catapulted off the deck and headed towards the Vietnamese coast to attack suspected North Vietnamese and Viet Cong positions. Though the attacks on Viet Cong positions in South Vietnam (mainly for air support)proceeded smoothly, the attacks on targets in North Vietnam worried the admiral because the regular orders arriving in from Washington denied him the chance to use his carriers they should have used them, thereby exposing his pilots to unnecessary dangers. Also, the reports from his pilots of enhanced anti-aircraft defenses greatly worried the admiral. Maxwell thought that he had seen the worst of it when he flew through Japan and then Korea but right now, Vietnam was on the way to proving him wrong on that account.

It took a while before his XO shook him of his thoughts of and the admiral immediately replied, "Are **all** our fighters back on board". The XO nodded and replied more quietly, "Sir the reinforcement carriers are nearly on station". Maxwell nodded and replied, "Send a message to Washington on our situation and a confirmation of our instructions". He wanted to be sure that he had the full support of the commander in chief when he left Yankee Station and headed southward. The XO walked off while the admiral continued to observe flight operations, wishing that he himself could get back into the cockpit.

On the _Constellation_ as well as the _Midway_ and the _Ranger_, most of the pilots left to get some R and R as they could after flying back but the CAGs immediately headed to their quarters to plan out their next missions both in Vietnam and more importantly in the Antarctica since they all knew what was going on. Ironically in contrast to their commanding officers, they would prefer to stay in the area since they all read the reports and many wondered how the hell they would prevail without resorting to extreme measures that chilled even the most hardened soldier.

Later in the evening, while Maxwell rested in his quarters, a sailor arrived with a priority one message. As soon as he took the message into his hand, Admiral Maxwell dismissed the sailor, locked the door and sat down in his chair to read the message. He read it for a few moments to ensure that he understood it correctly word for word before picking up the phone to the bridge. In a moment he had a line to the bridge where the duty officer was, "Send a signal to all ships in the **_group_**, and commence operation ice transit".

The officer on the other end of the line immediately put the phone down and soon the ships in the three battle groups also got the message. As one, they speed out of the Gulf of Tokin to Australia and then to link up with the rest of the strike force.

**At the Victoria Land area of Antarctica, designated Landing Beach Omega, a few days later:**

For the past few weeks, the teams of soldiers on the continent struggled to deal with daily life in this barren icy hell. Several already had cases of frostbite and other health problems common to long exposure throughout the continent. Worst of all was the sheer boredom that they dealt with every day with living under the shadow of a dark evil. Sometimes, the more fatalistic ones wished that their prey would come out of hiding so they could get on with it. While they didn't know it, the more fatalistic ones would get their wish to the danger of themselves and their comrades.

At the beachhead called Omega, a few sentries stood out looking at the sea while squads prepared to go about their duty. As they went about their duty and as the wind picked up, some of the more perceptive soldiers suddenly stopped in their tracks as they tried to designate the different mix sounds out here today. They soon shook in fear as they realized that the loud booms in the distance were footprints and that they were heading straight for them. Belatedly, the commander of the beachhead yelled out, "To your positions now". He then ran to the communications center to the stunned sight of the other officers and replied, "Send word to headquarters that Godzilla is heading for us at maximum speed".

Back outside, the troops immediately readied their heavy weapons and waited for the arrival of the kaiju. Alongside them were small platoons of American M60A1 Patton, Japanese Type 61 and Russian T-55 tanks, which struggled into their firing positions. Everyone armed with a weapon swore to do their best but they all knew that they stood little chance of preventing Godzilla's departure from Antarctica.

Godzilla roared into the windy sky in challenge as he advanced towards the human forces. Though snow was everywhere, his eyes spotted the fortifications and he instantly headed straight for them.

To the soldiers in the trenches, the sight of Godzilla heading towards them sent another round of chills into their spines and some started to curse out at the fate that awaited them. Without a second to lose, the commander yelled out, "All units commence firing".

Machine guns, heavy mortars, and tank cannons soon fired by the score and explosions occurred all around Godzilla's body. Though the firepower was intense, all it did was irritate him and he continued to advance on the positions, his eyes glowing blood red. All the firepower really did was to light up the human defenders for Godzilla and he responded accordingly with a long blast of his atomic breath.

When the explosion cleared, Godzilla's atomic breath demolished the first defense line and the few survivors struggled through the snow for their very lives. Those further back tried to provide cover fire but it was miniscule against Godzilla's enormous form. He fired again at the ground, killing more soldiers as well as inflicting terrible damage on the landscape.

As the soldiers scattered and continued to battle the monster, they all wondered if help was going to come soon if at all.

**The international strike fleet, 30 miles off Wilkes Land, Antarctica:**

When the _Amatsukaze _received the report from landing beach omega, Admiral Sakai immediately turned to the other officers, "Sound general quarters and signal the carriers and the _Gotengo_ squadron". Alarms rang out throughout the ship while the admiral activated a headset that linked to the other ships, "Are you guys ready to go"? The voices on the other end of the line replied in the affirmative and Sakai ordered, "Launch aircraft and head to landing beach Omega, the rest of the fleet will head in as soon as possible". He then sat back down in his seat and watched as it sprung into action.

When Captain Nakano received the news from the _Amatasukaze_, he turned to Ueda and told him, "Sound general quarters and get everyone to their battle stations". That meant breaking everyone out and putting them to use. As the captain ran his seat and prepared for takeoff, he saw his **_entire_** crew operating with professional efficiency despite the problems that plagued them during the journey, with some of them started by Douglas Gordon now sitting at the weapons station waiting expectantly along with everyone else for the captain's orders. The captain mused to himself, "Like all soldiers suffering from long stretches of boredom, once the gunfire starts, they're eager to jump in and get it over with".

As soon as Saki Ueda told him that everything was ready, the commander replied, "Activate the engines and prepare to take off". The ship soon filled with the engines pumping out the water and then they helped the ship and her two ascend to the sky, with the _Gontengo_ rotating her huge forward drill. Her sisters soon followed and after they ascended to an optimum altitude, their hangers opened up to the icy weather to unleash their complement of fighters into the Antarctic sky.

At the same time, the carriers of the task force turned into the wind to launch their fighters. Scores of flight deck crews hurried to launch every plane they could into the frigid air, while checking one **_last_** time to ensure that the systems of each plane functioned in the extreme temperatures. Soon they linked up with the aerial battleships where the pilots stood with mouths open at the sight of the large warships hovering in the air. When the last of the aerial fleet assembled, they headed for the battle zone, the explosions clearly visible in the sky. The question every human in the task force wondered was whether they would arrive in time to save their comrades already on the continent.

* * *

Notes:

If you haven't noticed thus far, I've put in a lot of World War II and Cold War information to try and make this story somewhat close to reality.

I'd thought that I might as well start the battle right here with Godzilla heading back to the sea and the meager garrisons trying to hold them off while the strike fleet, hoping for a clean landing, moves in to assist and engage Godzilla sooner than planned.

* * *

Questions:

How well am I doing so far in getting the different aspects of the story right (in terms of character (and especially how well have I portrayed the people on the _Gotengo_, technologies used (both in the Godzilla series and in the real world)

What do you guys think of me starting the battle this early and how should I proceed?

As always, please read and review and sorry if this doesn't turn out well.


	6. Bridgehead firefight

Chapter 6: Bridgehead firefight.

**Landing Beach Omega:**

When a battle begins, it always degenerates into chaos of the worst order as everything that could go wrong does go wrong. The question each soldier asks is that how badly a killing zone can really get and whether it was their time to leave this Earth.

In this case, for the veterans of the Korean War at Landing Beach Omega, it was rising to the level of the defense of Pusan. With moderately sized forces in a small bridge head without any air support, the forces battling Godzilla suffered heavy losses and the monster had already advanced through the first three defense lines. Though the troops on the ground had plenty of courage, they had a finite number of troops, limited amount of ammunition, and limited room to maneuver.

As Godzilla continued to march towards the sea, he left behind a burning trail of wreckage and death and the few survivors that managed to escape from their burning vehicles froze to death in the harsh winter climate. The monster continued to randomly fire his atomic ray along the ground, killing some, inflicting damage on the environmental landscape and chilling those in the rear who saw the blue energy on the horizon.

After the commander observed Godzilla slaughtering more of his forces, the ground commander in the area turned to one of the communications officers and yelled out, "Any chance on reinforcements from the other landing zones"?

The communications officer replied, "They've already sent squadrons but they won't make it here in time". Suddenly he grabbed his headset and replied, "Sir I've just received word that the fleet has launched all of its air units and the ETA is five minutes". The ground commander looked up at the cloudy sky, hoping for any sign that the reinforcements were already here and prayed that the news was true.

Backed up by MLRS (multiple rocket launcher systems), self-propelled and towed artillery pieces firing at point blank range, the tanks and troops continued to fire away at Godzilla. The monster retaliated by firing his atomic ray or literally smashing his way through the defenders, his feet and long tail crushing men in their positions and smashing vehicles aside like toys.

Soon the monster pushed the defenders back to their last defense line with the ocean in sight. As he saw this, the commander said to himself, "Prepare for evacuation".

Suddenly, several yellow streaks of light from the sky slammed into the monster, scorching his hide and forcing him back. Everyone turned to find the source and what they saw made their mouths drop in wonder.

For over the horizon flew three huge warships with front drills on the bow and conning towers resembling submarines, their guns aiming straight at Godzilla. Surrounding the three huge aerial warships were scores of fighters, which were busy moving into attack formation as the three ships launched another barrage of weapons at the stunned monster.

The men of the garrison cheered as they saw the air fleet and the three huge aerial battleships continue bombarding the monster and directing his attention away from them. The commanders on the ground were more than eager to engage but the casualties chilled their momentary ardor for combat and a message from the _Gotengo_ added impetus to halt to count their losses and wait for the main force". It read, "Have assumed battle positions and will continue to engage the monster and drive him away from beachhead acknowledge via same protocol". The commander on the ground nodded reluctantly as he surveyed the losses of men and wondered how bad the nightmares would be this time, "Acknowledge message and thank you for the assistance".

**Bridge of the Gotengo:**

As Captain Nakano watched the unfolding battle before him, he smiled at the sight of Godzilla looking stunned at the arrival of the reinforcements. He whispered, "So how do you like being surprised you bastard". His face changed to concern as Godzilla immediately fired back, narrowly missing the _Gotengo_, her sisters and the huge air fleet. With that, the commander yelled out, "All ships surround Godzilla and cover the planes".

The three battleships suddenly accelerated to maximum speed with the _Gotengo_ attacking Godzilla head on while the two others attacked him from the sides. If looked at from directly above the battlefield, it resembled a steel triangle with Godzilla in the middle.

Godzilla roared in anger at the sudden increase in resistance and attempted to fire his atomic breath but the pilots and gunners zeroed their weapons on Godzilla's mouth. He instead started to swing his arms and tail around in order to kill a few of his assailants.

Slowly and painfully, the battle started to move inland with the three battleships maintaining formation while the fighters continued their relentless assaults on the monster. Despite the frigid weather and the brutal conditions, the pilots continued with their attacks on Godzilla with some closing in to use machine guns.

Despite the apparent success they were having against the monster, the squadron leaders realized that the savage scale of the fighting ate up ammunition at a voracious rate. Sooner or later, they were going to break under the strain of having squadrons fly back to the three aerial battleships, the aircraft carriers, or the land bases to reload. It proved especially difficult to attempt refueling the planes on the airships since they were in the midst of battle but they had no choice since some of the planes lacked the range to travel back to land bases.

Godzilla continued to swipe at the planes with his assailants but it proved futile for the planes moved fast and their pilots kept their distance from the kajiu. Unfortunately, the firepower did not prove completely effective in keeping Godzilla's mouth shut. For as the firepower started to die down several times for a critical few seconds, Godzilla suddenly opened his mouth and fired his main weapon without charging his back. The blue beam flashed along the sky, igniting several planes that flew too close to the beam.

The rest of the air fleet was stunned and that gave Godzilla time to fire several more shots including one directly at the _Gotengo_. By the time the air fleet reestablished control, twenty planes fell to the barrage and the _Gotengo_ suffered some damage on her hull. Nakano cursed at the sudden onslaught and radioed to check on the status of the other two ships as the battle still continued.

Despite the sudden break, the fighters did not let up on the monster and Godzilla blinked in angry surprise at the resistance. He started to fire short bursts of atomic energy again but the blasts were undirected and barely phased the morale of the fighter pilots as they battered away at the monster's hide. Soon the battle moved even deeper into the icy continent and away from Landing Beach Omega.

Nakano continued to observe the battle on the main screen with mounting apprehension for with all of the firepower the aerial forces assembled; Godzilla withstood the barrages virtually unharmed and full of fight. The commander realized that they needed a plan to stop Godzilla at least temporarily for now but neither he nor the two commanders of the other aerial warships had any ideas on achieving such a goal.

And so it continued for the next few hours with the three airships and the huge air fleet attempting to keep Godzilla boxed in one general location of the continent while the arriving ground troops reinforced the respective beachheads. Sometimes, the direction of a battle would unwittingly switch to another beachhead for a while before the air fleet attempted to switch it back inland.

**The landing beaches: **

For the garrisons on the respective beachheads, the sight of the battle unnerved them since they knew that they stood little chance should Godzilla turned and headed towards them. When the monster turned away from a potential beachhead target, its troops breathed a huge sigh of relief and thanks for the aerial support.

Soon they had another reason to cheer as the many ships of the international fleet approaching in the grey midst, with the transports already heading towards them. A huge roar went up from the troops while the officers on the ground breathed a huge sigh of relief due to the arrival of reinforcements and the chance for their own units to rest.

The troops on the ships felt no such cheer when they saw the formidable landscape while waiting to disembark from their transports. Many shivered in the harsh cold and some became seasick in the rough seas as the waves slammed against them. While the transports and landing craft steamed towards the icy, treacherous shore, the warships circled off the coast with guns trained inland, ready to fire the moment Godzilla appeared over the horizon.

The moment the landing ramps touched down, troops stormed ashore as if under fire from a human enemy, followed by the tanks and other heavy weaponry needed to stand a chance against Godzilla, if he fought his way through the air fleet. The most welcoming sight was the Japanese Type 66 maser tanks although they did struggle to get ashore.

As Kitagawa watched the battle proceed, he had much to be thankful as it seemed everything was proceeding as planned with only a few casualties. He turned to his fellow commanders who shared the same common sentiment before he issued his orders, "The ground troops of all five beaches are to link up until we form a continuous front", "Meanwhile, the air fleet will continued to engage Godzilla until the operation is completed and then everyone is to break off". He then turned to his staff and replied to them all, "Well, shall we move ashore then". The commanders grumbled at the thought while Brezarin smiled at the sight of seeing the generals struggling to deal with the winter weather.

Meanwhile, the battle between Godzilla and the air fleet continued unremittingly as the flyers struggled to contain Godzilla within their perimeter. Both sides did not let up as the fighters continued to attack Godzilla despite the angry kaiju gradually cutting down their ranks with blats of his atomic breath.

The sight of it was enough to unnerve Nakano to the point that to attempt some of the insane plans he thought out in his mind would be better than the temporary stalemate that would eventually end with Godzilla winning. He immediately got on the line with the captains of the two other battleships and communicated his ideas on scoring the temporary victory that they needed at the moment. After a few more minutes of heavy discussion, Nakano asked them harshly, "Do you have any better ideas on how to proceed"? The captains had a grim look on their faces as they realized that they had no choice and both prepared to commence the move".

After switching off, Nakano turned to look at his stunned bridge crew and yelled at them, "Well what the hell are you looking at me for, can't you see that we're in the middle of a battle". Before anyone could speak up, the captain replied, "So far our tactics have not worked against Godzilla and right now we need to finish this quickly". He sat back in his seat with a stony look on his face as the crew attempted to execute the plan although their faces all spoke their thoughts for them, "This is a suicide mission".

For a few more minutes, the three _Gotengo_ class battleships continued their long range bombardment of the monster as they aimed their bows straight at him. Soon their engines roared to life and to the shock of the fighter pilots, the three ships suddenly closed in on Godzilla with drills turning and guns blazing.

Godzilla's eyes widened in surprised and he started rapidly firing his atomic ray at the three battleships but they continued to bore in on him at maximum speed. Before Godzilla could move out of the way, the bows of the three ships collided with him head on, tearing huge holes within his skin at the impact point. Then suddenly, the bows of the three ships started spinning to enlarge the breaches their drills made while the guns fired at the monster's skin at point blank range.

Godzilla winced in pain as the weapons started to actually inflict damage on him. Though his G-cells instantly healed many of the wounds, the firepower the humans used inflicted damage on him at a faster rate, though the race was still very close. The monster roared in anger and despite the numerous explosions around his eyes, he charged up his back and fired at one of the _Gotengo_ class warships latched on his skin at point blank range.

Though the armor could handle most damage, it certainly could not withstand a full blast of Godzilla's atomic ray at point blank range. The blast slammed into the hull, knocking out the two forward turrets, literally blowing out the hangers, slicing off half of the conning tower and melting the bow off of the warship.

On the bridge of the stricken warship, the crew attempted to save their ship while its weapons stations continued to battle the monster with the ship's remaining weapons. Soon another blast unleashed more damage on the bridge, shorting out controls and starting small fires. As the commander watched the disastrous situation unfolding before him, he yelled out, "Detach ourselves from the monster right now".

The ship attempted to reverse engines but before it could get clear, Godzilla reached out with his hand and tore with his claws into the ship's hull, spilling out unfortunate crew into the icy tundra. He then soon grabbed the hull with his left hand and started to eventually squeeze the life out of it.

As the struggle continued, the _Gotengo_ and her remaining sister detached themselves from Godzilla's body and attempted to rally to their sister's aid but Godzilla was hell-bent on killing the foe right in front of him. Already, crews attempted to jump from the aerial warship and into the tundra. Most fell to their deaths and many of those that survived froze to death within minutes. Back on the ship, realizing all was lost, the weapons officers armed the self destruct sequence in the hope that the resulting explosion would provide enough force to create a hole in Godzilla's skin that the others could exploit.

Godzilla continued to crush the huge circular warships between his claws and had just about smashed it into a wrecked cylinder when suddenly its engines lit up and it slammed into the kaiju once again. Before Godzilla could react, an enormous explosion engulfed the whole ship along with the monster as the ship ignited its ammunition and scuttle charges.

Despite the intensity of the blast, everyone spotted the target point of the blast and Captain Nakano did not wait long before yelling out, "All units fire around the location of the blast and don't let up". The _Gotengo_ roared to life as she fired her forward weapons at the blast area and soon her remaining sister and the fighters soon joined in with their own savage barrage.

Godzilla reeled backwards from the sudden explosion and did not see the oncoming barrage, which surprised him even more as the munitions detonated around the area where the destroyed warship's bow had been lodged into his skin. The monster roared in pain as the military forces hammered in from all sides with concentrated fire at specified points around the breach in his skin. He continued to fire his atomic breath randomly but soon the pain started to affect his nervous system, which despite the awesome powers of the G-cells, still needed more time to repair itself than that of the other organs. The kaiju's eyes flared as he fired a long atomic blast around him in a circle, killing a good number of fighters while creating lots of dust in the icy landscape.

As the two _Gotengo_ class warships attempted to regain stability, the crews of both vessels could barely see anything in the sudden kick up of dust. Many of the crew on both ships wondered whether the dust was just temporary camouflage and once it cleared, the monster would be right on top of them. Once the dust cleared, they saw something quiet different.

Godzilla staggered back into the mist of the Antarctic, his roars and movements somewhat weakened as the monster maintained his footing. His tail moved at random as the monster continued to march away from them. Only his eyes displayed the fight still left in him.

The air fleet clearly wanted to pursue, clearly observing that they must have done much better than they thought, but their commanders had other ideas for even though they all performed well, the butcher's bill stunned them and they both agreed that they needed time to rest and get replacements. Once they gained some rest period, they would be back and next time, they would play for keeps. With a heavy heart but a clear conscience, Nakano yelled out the order, "All planes are to return to their bases **at once**". The tone in his voice left no room for argument and everyone grimly agreed with his orders as the air fleet roared back towards their bases with the two airships not far behind, their guns trained on the retreating monster as they flew back towards the beaches. Meanwhile as the ships flew over the wreckage of their destroyed sister, their crews looked out the window and, as part of the tradition of the service in all nations throughout history, they gave a military salute to their fallen comrades.

**The beaches:**

Although there had been enormous chaos when the doors of the transport ships first touched the ground, by the time the air fleet roared back towards the coast, it had mostly been sorted out although chaos still reigned as supply depots were hastily formed, tanks and vehicles struggled to traverse the landscape and local commanders sorted out the jumbled up troops into their formal units. None of the experiences the old veterans could really have prepared them for the troubles they endured in Antarctica. Offshore, the ships struggled in the steadily rough seas around the continent as they maintained naval cover over the beachheads.

At first the troops on the ground feared the worst when they spotted the air fleet heading away from the interior of the continent but once the _Gotengo_ sent a message down to the ground commanders, they relaxed a little and attempted to finish the unloading before Godzilla attempted another breakout.

Once the two airships landed in the water, tankers and other replenishment ships moored in alongside while small launches transported Nakano, Ueda and their staff where to the beaches. After arriving, military police escorted them in APCs to a makeshift commander center where the generals and admirals awaited them.

Next chapter (Chapter 7: Updates and Scouting): First there will be a large meeting between the command and then patrols will be launched in order to ascertain the situation inland and to choose a good battlefield spot to launch the all out assault on Godzilla. The reason I did not attempt to do a meeting now is because I consider this chapter mainly an all out battle one.

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Notes:

If you want to know the reason why I somehow allowed the air fleet to triumph at first is since the engagement is supposed to be only the start, no the main attack since that will come later in the story. And I made sure to attempt to avoid having Deus Ex Machina come into play here when the air fleet managed to temporarily injure Godzilla for the moment (in fact one of the three airships is inadvertently sacrificed to temporarily pry open Godzilla's skin.

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Question: As always, how am I doing with the battles and the portrayal of Godzilla?

As always, please read and review. I'm very desperate for more reviews here.


	7. Consolidation and patrols

Chapter 7: Consolidation and patrols.

**Landing Beach Omega:**

As Captain Nakano and Ueda walked off the gangplank and towards the beach, both felt the stinging cold hitting them hard. Though Ueda had spent some time in the northwestern part of Hokkaido, he felt that he would rather be back in Northern Hokkaido observing the Russians instead of here working with them. Despite that he followed his superior officer to one of the large prefabricated buildings set up to function as a command center.

Inside, the generals waited anxiously while attempting to keep warm. The generators providing the heat for the complex barely compensated for the extreme cold, even when operating at full power. They kept busy with reading the recent reports of the battlefield and though they were pleased with the situation mostly, the first news of the casualties sobered them to the task of the situation at hand. Although General Brezarin had been through battles where the Red Army suffered horrendous casualties on the first day alone, the butcher's bill affected him as well though he carefully hid his thoughts as he observed the others. Reynolds took a deep breath as he read the casualty list for a moment before turning to Kitagawa but the Japanese general was busy with his own thoughts.

The silence ended when one of the doors opened and the captain of the _Gotengo_ and his XO walked in. Kitagawa stood up and exchanged salutes with the two men before returning back to his seat, "First I want to thank you and your crews on behalf for everyone here for the courage you all have shown thus far". Both men nodded glumly and Kitagawa instantly understood why, "If it makes you feel any better, the sacrifice your men gave will help us achieve our primary goal". He then turned to business, "As for now, please give your report".

Nakano took a deep breath as he turned to the rest of the generals, "When we fled the scene, we managed to observe that the lost airship managed to somehow inflict harsh damage on Godzilla". He then took a pointer and aimed it at the large screen displaying Godzilla's body in profile, "The vessel struck at Godzilla's mid-waist section near his dorsal fins and when it fired all of its weapons at the hole it made, the damage was enough to actually slow Godzilla down".

This caught the attention of everyone in the room as the captain's words sank in. Seeing the looks in their eyes, Nakano continued his debriefing, "As you can see, we had to close in to point blank range in order to penetrate the monster's hide and to pull it off exposed our troops to enormous danger".

That chilled the room even more as each general thought about the potential butcher's bill that would result when they engaged the monster again. Finally, Kitagawa asked the question everyone had on their minds, "How much damage do you believe you inflicted on Godzilla".

The _Gotengo's_ captain shook his head and replied, "From what we saw, we did inflict a good amount of damage considering the circumstances". He paused before continuing, "We must have attacked a vital part of the monster's body if he stumbled away from us". Kitagawa nodded before dismissing the two guests and turning to his colleagues. Both men hurried out into the door and back into the frigid cold towards their ship.

The room remained silent as the generals attempted to come to grips with the information the captain of the _Gotengo_ told them. It remained silent for a few moments before Kitagawa told them all, "Since now we have a pretty good idea on what we're facing against, anyone want to contribute their thoughts now".

Reynolds spoke first, "After hearing what they had to say, I have to wonder if we can really prevail against the monster". He paused before continuing before anyone, especially Brezarin could jump in on him, "I'm still in but we all have to consider all future decisions from here on in since I'm sure we don't want another enormous butcher's bill here".

Though all understood what he meant, some snickered at his comments and the Russian general said first, "Has your capitalistic sentimentality affected you as a solider". Reynolds was about to respond but the Russian, "This is a war so what the hell do you expect huh"? He then turned to them all and said, "The sooner we finish this, the lower the casualties". Brezarin then turned to Kitagawa and said, "You out of all people should understand what I mean here that despite the casualties suffered thus far, we have to press ahead and finish what we started as soon as possible".

The British and French commanders turned to the Russian in silent shock since they really could not afford to disagree yet their forces were somewhat smaller than that of the Americans, Russians, and Japanese and therefore could not absorb the high level of casualties and remain an effective fighting force. They turned to Reynolds who gritted his teeth for a moment before yelling back, "I'm more than ready to suffer these types of casualties but and to live with it if you so wish".

Brezarin was about to comment when Kitagawa told them, "Sit down and act like professionals here". His face resembled that of an angry schoolteacher and the two sat down with glum faces while Kitagawa spoke to everyone in the room, "Right now we have to concentrate on establishing a tight circle for if Godzilla leaves here, he could strike anyway and the damage as you all know would be astronomical". He paused before continuing, his voice in a tightly controlled tone, "Despite General Brezarin's _persuasive_ statements about continuing to focus on the main task at hand, we will not attack until _all_ of our bridgeheads are secure". He then finished by stating, "For now all of our forces will be sending out patrols to track the monster and to help our men adjust to this environment", "Once we've established a strong presence, that is when we'll consider engaging the monster directly". His tone left no room for anyone else in the room for argument and when he said, "Dismissed" they all quickly left. Reynolds was the last to leave when Kitagawa signaled him to wait. Once the room became empty, Kitagawa replied to the American, "I'm sorry about Brezarin's behavior, in fact I don't blame you for voicing your concerns".

Reynolds nodded and said, "I guess I'm just a little too old for this". He took a deep breath before saying, "Hell even after Korea, I thought I had seen and read everything about being on the ground during a firefight but now this is starting to take the cake".

He was about to apologize but Kitagawa waved it off by stating, "You're braver in airing the potential costs than most of the other commanders". The Japanese commander paused before stating, "I've been through several firefights against the monster and right now I've been going to every conceivable scenario and almost every time it ends, we end up with numerous casualties and some of them with the mission ending in a disaster".

Reynolds replied to that with his own statement, "Always it seems we're the pawns of the political maneuverings of the world". He as well as every generation had forgotten was that was how the world functioned **_realistically_** for as long as humanity lived. The only consolation was that each generation had to relearn the lesson all over again, which gave it a chance, although slim, of breaking that vicious cycle. They sat in silence for a moment and Reynolds took a small breath before turning to the Japanese general, "Want to get something eat, I'm freezing to death". His answer was a hearty laugh, "Once this is all over, we'll all go on a sake binge at Yokosuka and it will be on me".

**All over Antarctica's coastline: **

Outside in the snow, troops struggled to pull ashore the equipment and heavy vehicles. Often, the vehicles froze in the snow or ran into trouble while attempting to traverse the terrain and it required the assistance of other vehicles as well as large amounts of fuel to defrost and free them. Sometimes, the troops had to abandon some of their machines as they froze in the snow. As for the men themselves, a good portion ended up dealing with frostbite and other diseases and their commanders sent them back to their ships to recover. In fact soon, the field commanders on the ground decided to rotate a number of their troops back and forth between the ships, which angered the transports since they needed the room to transport the numerous materials and equipment onto the beach.

Among the units most eager to arrive were the maser teams, struggling to drive their Type 66 Maser Cannon units onto the beach and inland. They had suffered enormous casualties during the firestorm of Tokyo and after painstaking reformation by the Self-Defense Forces, were extremely eager to settle the score with Godzilla. After moving inland, they formed up with the accompanying tank battalions.

High above the Antarctic, search planes struggled to locate and track Godzilla's movements while everyone watched the status of the weather. They all knew that the best way to start engaging Godzilla was to achieve complete surprise and have an enormous amount of firepower with them on quick notice and airpower was the best way to get that much firepower into the theater of action.

After monitoring the weather conditions, the commanders gave the order to start deploying the patrol units into the interior of the continent to search for the monster. From the beachheads, small battle groups consisting of a dozen tanks, two maser tanks, and about three or for self-propelled artillery pieces surged across the landscape.

**Interior of Antarctica**

Godzilla struggled to walk through the icy landscape. Though his enhanced internal defensive system made him nearly invulnerable from harm, his nervous system required more time for repairs for the damage he sustained during the battle with the air fleet. Unfortunately for those hunting him, the monster was still dangerous to those that foolishly attempted to attack him. The monster's red eyes burned with the fires of hell as they scanned the landscape in front of him.

For those venturing across the landscape, the journey felt as if they were walking into a virtual black pit. With snow and harsh winds all around, they had virtually no idea of where they were heading and the sounds of the winds sometimes muffled out the sound of almost everything else thereby leaving them vulnerable.

Not surprisingly, the chances for an unintended collision with the monster were enormous and they would occur soon for two of the battle groups were on a collision course with the monster himself. Godzilla had the advantage as he knew what was coming while the two groups wandered around aimlessly and almost out of touch with their colleagues or superiors.

The crews struggled in this insane situation when they started to pick up the noise of huge footsteps. Realizing what was about to happen, the commanders immediately directed their units into improvised battle formations with their crews vainly searching the landscape for any sign of the target. Unfortunately, that target struck first with a blast of his atomic ray, killing a maser tank and three tanks.

The other tanks started firing in all directions but the virtual blindness made their shots go wide. The only chance for a good shot was the sight of blue fins but by then, the monster murdered a good portion of the units already. Despite that, the tanks and masers fired away, the beams crisscrossing across the landscape.

Godzilla roared in annoyance at the resistance and started to advance on the battle groups, his feet and tail shaking the landscape in front of him. Shells and energy fire impacted on him head on but the damage was negligent while the damage the kaiju caused was brutally permanent.

Once they ascertained the general location of Godzilla, the two battle groups attempted to maneuver around him but Godzilla was much faster, smashing several more vehicles with his enormous tail while burning the rest with his atomic breath. Soon the monster cut them down until only stragglers remained. They attempted to escape while summoning help from nearby units.

**Landing beach Omega: **

When the commanders received word of contact with the monster, they immediately headed towards the improvised command center where they could get a better picture. Soon, the squadron leaders also listened in on their own radios as the sudden pitched battle got underway. As they heard the sounds of battle, Kitagawa turned to one of his officers and asked, "Status of any units nearby". The officer pointed to several units on the map, which were marked in the standard format seen on maps, and the distance between them and the monster, represented by a large G.

The XO immediately replied when he saw the distance on the map, "Order those units to head there at best speed and save as many as you can". He then turned to Kitagawa and replied grimly, "Looks like Godzilla has partially healed from the damage the air fleet inflicted on him".

Kitagawa nodded and said to his long-time comrade, "We may have to move quickly before the monster completely heals". He then turned to his fellow generals and saw the same look and thoughts on their faces. Kitagawa then turned to one of the other officers and replied, "Get me the latest weather reports as soon as possible".

The others immediately understood the meaning of Kitagawa's words and they followed the Japanese general, as he left the command center before heading back to their units.

**Interior of Antarctica: **

Godzilla continued to rain merciless death and destruction upon his foes as they retreated. The artillery vehicles were in the lead while the tanks covered the rear with their turrets firing backward against Godzilla. The kajiu easily brushed them aside as he continued on his march, exchanging long range fire with his attackers.

The landscape shook with the sounds of war and soon the explosions exploded around the glaciers, creating instant landslides and blocking the escape paths. With the battles moving at an exceptionally fast pace, those that had their paths blocked turned around and closed to attack Godzilla at point-blank range. The others wanted to help but their commanders realized that the trapped units were buying time for them to escape.

Smoke from the resulting battle became so thick that the humans could not see anything in front of him and Godzilla's red eyes could barely pierce the enormous white mist. That gave the military forces time to clear out and when the smoke finally cleared, Godzilla's prey escaped from his grasp. The monster roared in anger and fired a long blast of radioactive energy into the night sky, nearly turning it into daylight for a moment before it receded back into endless night. Godzilla then turned around and headed back into the mist to await the main attack.

Soon the survivors made their way back into the beachheads and the casualties shocked the others to say the least. As he saw wounded making their way into their lines, Kitagawa turned grimly to Hakauyate and said, "Summon all squadron leaders here for an important meeting and order all units to stand down for now". Hakauyate instinctively knew what his superior officer meant and he hurried out the door as Kitagawa turned back to watch the landscape in front of him, his mind already working on what to say to his men".

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No Notes this time. Sorry:

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Question: As always, how am I doing with the battles and the portrayal of Godzilla?

As always, please read and review. I'm very desperate for more reviews here.

* * *

Next chapter: Title: Let's Go. Summary: After several delays and after the result of the small-unit firefights, the international force considers whether to launch the all out attack to destroy Godzilla. 


	8. Let’s Go

Personal Note: After spending some time during the holidays and talking with my cousin about our respective writing experiences, I decided to put one more chapter before I get swamped by other things. I hope that she is proud of this and I wish her good luck and good hunting.

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Chapter 8: Let's Go:

**USS Constellation, somewhere off Landing beach Omega:**

Many troops on the ground hoped that the makeshift shelters would provide some protection from the harsh cold but they proved less effective than everyone hoped and after reading reports of frostbites among the units on the icy continent, the commanders decided to rotate a select number back to the ships for treatment and to limit their exposure to the Antarctic weather. They also relocated back to one of the US carriers, to the anger of some of the troops, who felt that the commanders had no idea the hell they endured on this forsaken continent with each delay.

Yet it proved to be the right decision for while the common private had to endure the horror of battle up close, the generals had to make the hard decision of sending millions of these common privates off to die in at best dubious causes. Often making that decision required a general to be at his best of health both mentally and physically and that proved to be the case for Kitagawa right now as he and the other generals awaited the latest weather report. Plus an aircraft carrier contained more room and more advanced systems to keep track of large amounts of information.

All sat in one of the large conference rooms on the _Constellation_ with Kitagawa brooding in thought with Reynolds sitting on the right side of him with a book in his hand. To the left sat Kawaguchi as he took a sip of his drink, his eyes drawn in as he observed the occupants in the room. Across from the room sat Brezarin along with the commanders of the British and French contingent. The only thing breaking the silence was the ticking of the clock and the sounds of classical Japanese music.

When the commanders heard a knock at the door, they all jumped in sudden surprise as they heard it and Kawaguchi immediately opened the door to find several officers, their faces in a tight grim mood. Before anyone can ask, the lead officer, a Japanese colonel said, "Sir, we believe that an acceptable weather front is moving in".

The room suddenly came alive as the occupants understood the meaning of the message and they immediately made way as the officers arrived with papers and photos in hand. Soon the table became crowded as the weather officials began to explain the situation.

The Japanese officer started off by pointing at several creases on the map, "Our weathers stations have detected a definite break in the storm moving in from the Falkland Islands area and it seems that it will hold for at most 72 hours".

Kitagawa cut in by saying while pointing to the map, "But if you look here, there are other weather fronts moving in that will collide at the same time".

Another officer, an American who had once served in Alaska, jumped in, "In fact it may be a blessing since it will give you guys cover when you attempt to attack Godzilla". He then pointed out by saying, "Despite the fact that you'll need the air support, won't you need some form of concealment to mask the advance from the kaiju's movements until you make contact with him". He then finished by stating, "Once the weather front from the Falklands arrived in a few hours, you can start using the air fleet to support the ground units".

Kitagawa nodded and listened in as the British General replied quietly, "At best, the planes armed with the heavier ordinance will have moderate to bad visibility **over** the target".

He replied while turning to Reynolds "But can't we use the planes from the carriers as well as the airships since they can work well in these types of conditions".

Taken somewhat by surprise, Reynolds replied, "It is possible but we'll have to ask the carrier commanders as well as Nakano to verify that fact". He then added, "If the officials here can give us a longer window then I'd take comfort in that". The others nodded their heads in agreement.

Kitagawa shook his head before turning to the subordinate officials and asked sympathetically, "Can you get more information of any changes in **at most** one hour"? The weather officials were about to speak when Kawaguchi cut in, "By that time, the monster will almost be completely healed and most certainly make another attempt to break out".

That fact weighted on everyone's mind as they considered the ramifications of another delay. If the thought of facing an injured Godzilla sent shivers down their spines, facing him while he was at full strength drained their faces of color as they contemplated such a situation. As he considered his limited options, the supreme commander of Operation Final Strike looked straight at his generals to gauge their opinions.

Reynolds looked pensive but the hard look in his eyes signaled that he would support whatever course Kitagawa decided to take. Brezarin looked very impatient to make any decision and the two other European generals had looks of despair in their eyes while attempting to display false bravado to cover their fears. Kitagawa took a deep breath before asking somewhat jokingly, "Anyone want to stay around in this place forever"? The others somewhat laughed in agreement at the statement as Kitagawa turned to the weather officials, "Get as much information in one hour, we'll meet back by then". He then turned to his colleagues and replied, "Signal all squadrons to prepare for combat", "We'll reconvene in one hour for final update".

Everyone cleared out of the room while Kitagawa brooded for a few more minutes while taking a last gulp of his drink. He then departed the room for his quarters.

**Commanding Officer's room, Gotengo:**

It had been a long day for Takeshi Nakano as he attempted to catch a few hours of sleep. He had just met with the commander of the other _Gotengo_ class warship to discuss details of the operation as well as the status of both vessels. After that, he attended another squadron meeting and was now very tired. Many who had served with him knew that unless it was absolutely necessary, to wake up the captain would earn the visitor a brutal reprimand.

Fortunately, Ueda had the most important reason to wake his boss up and even with Nakano looking at him with his regular angry stare, he ignored it and gave the captain the message that the ship received from the _Constellation_. Seeing the look in Ueda's eyes, Nakano sat down on the seat and looked at the FLASH traffic for a moment before turning to Ueda, "Wake everyone up, get them fed and sound general quarters". The XO bowed and left the room while Nakano read the message one more time before stating, "So this really is it". He then headed into his restroom to wash up before heading to the bridge.

**Antarctic Circle: **

For those on the ground, the only way anyone could keep warm was by resting in one of the many makeshift tents or buildings, or resting inside their vehicles with the engines turned on. They kept busy by attempting to keep warm and eating rations after warming them up. Many became dead bored and that lead them to worrying about freezing to death. In fact they would rather fight Godzilla now for at least they were doing something instead of dying a slow tortuous death far from home.

Thus when the word started to filter down the chain of command, many finally took a deep breath in thanks and they struggled to get ready. Soldiers checked and cleaned their weapons while supply teams fueled and rearmed every vehicle to their full load and mechanics ensured that the weapons functioned **100 percent** in the frigid weather. Soon units fit for combat marched towards the start lines at the forward trenches.

At airfields and on the carriers and the two _Gotengo_ class warships, deck teams fueled and armed every aircraft with the largest amount of ordnance possible while pilots waited tensely in their ready rooms. Meanwhile, reconnaissance units worked feverishly to map the area as well as locate the target.

**Conference room on USS Constellation, some time later: **

To every senior officer on the ship, the ticking of the clock felt as if it counted down to that of making a momentous decision and in fact it was the most momentous one in their lives for what they did here now would decide the fate of all humanity. The floor shook beneath each of them as of signaling the unleashing of a dark power.

After taking one last look at the clock, General Kitagawa emerged from his temporary quarters and looked at a mirror for a moment before he headed to the conference room. Not surprisingly, everyone was already there, their faces also displaying the same grim look that he saw in himself a few minutes earlier. Taking a deep breath and whispering a prayer to his ancestors, he took his seat at the head of the table.

For a few minutes, the room became deathly silent with only the faint sound of the storm occurring outside the ship. The clock ticked for a few more minutes before Kitagawa turned to one of the officials in the room and was about to ask but the official beat him to it, "Although we can't give you an accurate long range forecast, the break is almost upon us".

Kitagawa nodded before turning to his colleagues, all who, despite their different backgrounds and traditions, had earned the ranks they head the only honorable way, through personal combat, "Gentlemen, you command the troops that I'm about to throw into battle so one last go around please".

The generals looked at each other as if trying to read their thoughts before Reynolds spoke first, "I'm not one for charging in headlong but so far it seems that fate has forced our hand in terms of the weather, the landscape, the preparation of our men, and the location of the target", "So I feel that we should go in".

Next on the list came Russian General Brezarin who replied, "I have to agree with the American general here that we should use the opportunity we have now, otherwise we will have to fight a hopeless defensive battle". He then turned to the commanders of the British and French contingents who had long resigned looks on their faces as they awaited their turn to speak.

After a moment, the British General replied, "Even though this day will become a very dark one in our lives until the day we die, I see no point in delaying the inevitable". The French General nodded his head in agreement and all eyes turned back onto Kitagawa for it was up to him **_alone_** to make the decision.

For Kitagawa, he started to wonder if this was what Admiral Yamamoto and General Eisenhower felt when they prepared to launch their own monstrous campaigns. He looked at his colleagues for a moment and then took a deep breath before telling them in a loud clear and confident voice, "Let's Go".

The faces of everyone in the room transformed into grim smiles as they rushed out to signal the entire force as well as their governments back home that the operation would begin. Last to walk out was Kitagawa who leaned against the wall to steady himself as the adrenaline of thinking so much began to fade from his mind. He was so deep in thought that he did not notice Reynolds leaning against the steel wall while waiting for him at the end of the hall until he announced his presence, "Now do you feel a little more relaxed".

Kitagawa laughed sarcastically and said, "With the profession we all took in our younger days, do you think we can relax one bit or no". His face then turned somber, "Actually, now I feel even more worried". Reynolds started to say something but Kitagawa silenced him before continuing on, "Now it is up to the people who are actually using the weapons who will make the difference as well as a lot of luck on our side".

The corridor suddenly became cold as the weather outside and Reynolds replied in a silent understanding, "Yes Sir". They then headed to one of the small crafts that would transport them back to Antarctica for even though they had high positions, they felt that they needed to be there first hand to see the grisly results. The generals soon arrived at beach and boarded their respective command vehicles before they moved into the battle line.

**Cost of Antarctica: **

Though the winds still howled very loud across the icy landscape, a large rumbling sound began to cancel it out. Soon black shapes started to advance inland from the coast and soon fighter planes and two enormous submarine shaped "airships" joined them as they advanced into the interior. From all five landing areas, troops and vehicles surged out of the beachhead in a seemingly endless flood. Meanwhile, with guns aimed at the beach, the ships of the fleet formed up into a large steel ring and circled the continent like sharks waiting for prey to venture out into the deep oceans.

In his seat onboard the bridge of the _Gotengo_, Captain Nakano observed the movements of the strike force on the large screen in front of him. Many others soon joined in and small conversations began to develop among the Americans, English, and French crewmembers that as they realized that this would be their own D-day to tell to their descendents. To the eyes of the Japanese, the sight of so much firepower assembled for one battle made them think that kami was on their side and that they would wage a Tsushima-style battle, once the type of battle every sailor of the former Imperial Navy desired to participate in.

From his spot near the weapons control area in front of the captain's chair, Douglas Gordon watched in awe at the sight of it all. So far his tour of duty here had been an interesting learning experience and had somehow managed to hold down his temper. Although he still got into the usual fights with other crew members, being constantly on station helped limit it and forced Gordon to control his behavior at times.

It also sobered him to the realities of being a soldier and made him brood on his time serving in the military. At first he had joined in solely to avoid going to prison. So far, his time in the service consisted only of disciplinary problems with his superiors. Now he had to admit that he was proud to be here. The young Caucasian man laughed at the thought and returned back to his fighter's face as the ship glided above the icy continent.

For many, it had been a long wait and finally they felt relieved that the mission they all trained so hard for would finally get underway. Still though, the unanimous thought on everyone's mind was the chances of escaping from the battle alive. Though they all covered it with a mixture of different macho-style feelings, everyone knew that Godzilla was an extremely lethal opponent and only a few survived in the horrendous battles between mankind and the radioactive kaiju.

**Interior of Antarctica: **

Deep within the landscape, Godzilla rested near a large ridge of glaciers with his eyes closed but very much alert as his ears picked up the unmistakable sound of a large number of engines. With an angry snarl, the monster rose up to his full height, his charcoal-gray skin blending in with the night sky. The monster turned his head around to search for any immediate threat. Seeing none, he began to advance, his tail moving around randomly in all directions, his dorsal fins partially colliding together with each other, and his footsteps shaking the ground beneath him and signaling to the lead elements that Godzilla was alive and heading for them.

* * *

Author's Notes:

For those who have seen the movie Ike: Countdown-to-D-day, it provided an inspiration to write this particular chapter since I wanted to show that what the pressure everyone was under to ensure its success and the many risks of failure. I also wanted to have at least one non-battle chapter so as to raise the anticipation for when they finally go at it.

* * *

Author's Questions:

How well did I do the interaction between the commanders as they debated about the timing of the attack?

Did I do a good job in setting up the battle you all see in Godzilla: Final Wars?

As always, please read and review.


	9. Hammer and Anvil

Chapter 9: Hammer and Anvil:

**M113 Armored Personnel Carrier, ****Part of Landing Beach Omega group:**

Despite the fact that the United States was the most advanced nation in the world when it came to developing automobiles and other vehicles, they had not discovered a way to make traveling in their military vehicles any more comfortable. True, they did have shock absorbers but these provided a temporary expedient. After going through the motions usually associated with traveling over rough ground, Kitagawa wished that he had asked either one of the _Gotengo_ class warships to serve as his command center. He turned to Reynolds who seemed to be handling it much better than he did despite the conditions. Feeling a little dizzy, the Japanese general asked his American counterpart, "How the hell you Americans can stand riding in these things".

To his surprise, Reynolds laughed and said, "These vehicles are pretty good in traversing hard ground without too much trouble", "In fact back in Europe, the troops really had no trouble driving our way through to the European countryside". His face then formed a grin as he replied jokingly, "Don't tell me you're already feeling sick sir"?

Kitagawa yelled back somewhat hurt, "I've been in other vehicles like this so this is really not a problem". And indeed riding in the American produced vehicles gave a "smoother" ride than the time he rode in Japanese Type 95 tank during the fighting in Burma. He then added in jokingly himself, "The Russian solider must love riding in this type of weather".

Reynolds nodded and said, "To drive your way through large swamps and enormous icy landscapes in the north must really harden one's body for driving conditions such as this".

He was about to receive a reply from Kitagawa when an aide listening to one of the radios turned and said to the two, "Sir we've just received reports that the forces of Group Alpha are about to make contact with the target", "They're taking up defensive formations and readying from the attack".

Kitagawa whispered to his colleagues, "Now it truly begins". He turned to the communications aide and said, "Signal Group Alpha to hold the monster and signal all other forces to head toward Group Alpha's coordinates". He then turned to Reynolds and told his strategy to the questioning general, "Hopefully by catching Godzilla in a crossfire zone between the five groups, we can widen the chances for survival if something goes wrong". The American nodded and then both held on as the M113 and the vehicles around it started to accelerate through the snow. The other three groups also did the same as they hurried to the assistance of their soon to be beleaguered comrades of Army Group Alpha.

**Elements from Landing Beach Alpha: **

For the troops in the group, the situation started to become tense as they hurried to form up into defensive formations, the sounds of large footsteps and immense roars spurring them on to hurry. Soon they formed up into groups with the MBTs (main battle tanks) in the lead, APCs (mainly the new BMP-1s and the M113s) armed with anti-tank weapons on the flanks, self-propelled artillery, Type 66 maser tanks and assault guns (Russian SUs and British Charioteers) right behind the tanks, and then the towed artillery and the rocket launchers in the rear. Overhead flew scores of aircraft, their pilots waiting for the signal to attack while trying to keep warm. They barely finished by the time the lead elements spotted Godzilla's immense form over the dark horizon.

Once Godzilla spotted the huge array of firepower blocking his path, he roared an angry challenge before advancing on them, his feet and tail shaking up the icy landscape and sending shivers down the spines of the front line soldiers as they aimed. Seeing that the monster was about to enter the range of the artillery, the senior commander in charge turned to the artillery, "Let's welcome him with a barrage".

That brought a smile to the artillerymen, especially the Russians manning their BM-132 rocket launchers, infamously known throughout the world as the Katsuyha rocket launchers. Though very slow to reload and somewhat inaccurate, to mass a large number of these weapons together was literally bringing hell down on whoever angered the weapon's owners, such as what the former German Whermact endured when it launched the infamous Eastern Front on June 22, 1941. After the beachhead battles as well as the patrols, the men manning the artillery hoped that their weapons would perhaps scare Godzilla off although the cynical veterans reminded them otherwise. Without a second thought, they readied the huge weapons within minutes and as the clock ticked away, the signal flashed and the guns and rocket launchers opened up with a hailstorm of fire.

As if sensing a change in the air, Godzilla sniffed around for a moment before turning back to the opponents in front. Suddenly, explosions occurred all around the kaiju as he struggled to advance, roaring in anger at the stunning mount of firepower thrown up to stop then. Large artillery shells slammed directly into the monster's hide while rocket launchers rained down all around Godzilla.

Godzilla growled at the sudden resistance and the fact that he couldn't retaliate against those directly blasting away at him. The monster immediately turned and prepared to fire at the forces directly facing him but then the air units made their presence felt. Screaming down from the gray skies, fighter and ground attack aircraft fired at the monster while long-ranged bombers deposited their deadly cargos in the area directly around the monster. Seething in rage, the radioactive kaiju switched his attention back to the sky and started firing several blasts of his atomic ray, more to detonate the munitions exploding all around and forcing the air units to take defensive measures rather than killing anything at the moment.

To those waiting on the front line, the sight of Godzilla engulfed and unable to advance gave hope although the sight of Godzilla's blue energy ray over them and several bombs exploding close by soon started to chill them again. Many prayed to their gods in the hope that they would make it out alive although the statistics they all read back in Japan warned them otherwise.

Although the barrage slowed down Godzilla's advance, it did not stop him from attempting to advance on his foes. The constant bombardment from the air distracted Godzilla and kept his attention focused on the forces in front of him that he didn't sense the reinforcements arriving behind him, including the two remaining _Gotengo_ class battleships. The only question was how long they could hold and how much they would suffer for their bold defiance of the King of the Monsters.

Godzilla roared again in anger before closing in on the ground troops despite the heavy bombardment. The intense movement of his tail and feet as well as the numerous artillery explosions shook the ground even more intensely and some of the inexperienced soldiers started to panic to the point of nearly slamming on the gas or pushing the button to fire their weapons and it took the field commanders to persuade them hold their fire.

In the air, jets from the major military powers of the world continued to batter away at Godzilla. Both the carrier and land based fighters continued to launch low level attacks with machine guns, general purpose bombs and free-flight rockets while the heavy bombers flying in from land bases surrounding the continent continued to drop their loads all over the monster. Unfortunately though they did suffer losses for although Godzilla could not use his atomic breath, his body was also and excellent and the point-blank combat allowed the kaiju to use his hands, feet, and tail to inflict damage, sending fighters spiraling out of control to slam into the glaciers or the ground. It also forced the remaining aircraft to use more caution in attacking the monster head on.

With the aerial and artillery bombardment partially diminished for the moment, Godzilla suddenly increased his speed and closed in on the awaiting front-line forces. Seeing no other option left, Group Alpha's commanders transmitted their orders to all their vehicles, "All units Commence firing".

The ground in front of Godzilla erupted into one enormous roar as the tanks and other AFV began to add their firepower to the field. Guns continued to spit out smoke and flame while thin blue beams from the Type 66 masers scorched the monster's charcoal-grey body.

Godzilla roared in vicious anger at the continuing increase in the resistance that his foe continually threw up. In fact the firepower became so intense that it actually forced him back. Swinging his tail around, the kaiju charged his dorsal fins and fired down at the ground, churning up smoke in all directions. The intense heat also started to melt the icy ground, making the ground become less stable.

Back near the artillery positions, the gunners continued to constant reload their weapons and fire them in support of their comrades, yelling out over the tremendous noise in order to equalize the pressure. Rocket launchers fired en masse although at a slower rate due to the longer reload time while the huge guns continued to add their roars to the combined sounds of battle.

Having enough the resistance the military was throwing up at him, Godzilla suddenly went, as the survivors would latter describe, berserk smashing everything left and right as he closed in even more on the lead armored elements, surprising everyone fighting on the ground. As his huge form towered over his potential victims, the commanders decided to implement their fallback plans, signaling by radio, "First defense line to regroup to the rear, second line, prepare to engage the enemy".

With the SU and Charioteer assault guns providing direct cover fire, the first defense line began to disengage and fall back while shell and energy fire continued to rain overhead. Despite the chaos of battle, the tanks and other AFV managed to transit their way past their colleagues in the snowstorm.

Godzilla's eyes burned as he spotted his assailants escaping from his grasp and he snarled in his mouth before resuming his pursuit. Despite the superb defense, some squadrons started to slow down and that left them to the mercy of the radioactive saurian as he easily crushed smashed them aside. Roaring in victory at the sight, Godzilla continued his pursuit and immediately charged the dorsal fins on his back but the gunners and tank-men were faster, immediately concentrating their fire on the monster's head the moment they reached their new positions, momentarily blinding him and sending his blast off course to strike at the landscape.

Although they managed to hold on thus far, the commanders on the ground started to note several problems. For one thing, the landscape of Antarctica had already been devastated in the last few days and now the current battle devastated it even more, weakening the ground and creating man made avalanches that buried those unfortunate enough to be in the vicinity.

Most importantly however, the battle ate up ammunition faster than anyone predicted and they weren't doing much against Godzilla's thick hide or the dark powers of his cell regeneration system. Everyone knew that they couldn't keep this up forever and if help didn't arrive soon, they were at the mercy of Godzilla's most powerful weapon. Immediately, the commanders opened up a link to the reinforcements.

**Group Omega/Gontengo: **

Traveling along the landscape felt endless and soon boredom started to seep in among the armies though they had plenty to muse about as they headed towards the positions of Group Alpha. Soon however, they began to receive the first news about Godzilla engaging their forces. At first the battle seemed to be going well but their more reports came in detailing the seriousness of the firefight. Kitagawa immediately asked, "How far are we now"?

One of the radio operators replied while pointing at a map, "We're about thirty minutes away along with Group Beta", "Groups Charlie and Delta are 50 minutes away".

Kitagawa then grabbed a radio and the _Gotengo_, "Captain Nakano, this is the general, can you read"?

The captain's voice replied on the other end, "We read you sir and we've already been made aware of the situation". He paused for a moment to look at a map before continuing with confidence in his voice, "At maximum burn, both warships can arrive there in 5-10 minutes".

Kitagawa brooded over the thought he considered his options. One of the things that the Germans and then the Americans had drilled into the heads of everyone else was that in battle, speed is life, a lesson recently learned with the foiling of Godzilla's attempt to break out. Right now, the troops battling the monster were relying on their comrades to bail them out and Kitagawa felt that he had little choice, "Good luck good hunting captain". Nakano nodded before singing off and soon the two huge airships and their air compliment roared ahead of the main forces to the sounds of the guns. Even though he knew that it would do little, Kitagawa turned to one of his radio operators and yelled out, "Signal all forces to make their way to battle site at best speed".

**Group Alpha: **

The battle between Godzilla and the combined forces in the area turned to chaos as Godzilla soon overtook his foes while attempting to fall back and now it descended into point blank range maneuver combat with two sides: one being composed of many weak foes, and the other an indestructible creature born from mankind's most fearsome weapon.

While assault guns attempted to form a steel circle around Godzilla, mixed battle groups of tanks and APCs conducted slashing attacks, first stopping to fire accurate shots and then resuming their movement before the kaiju spotted them. Knowing full well what was behind them, the gunners on each vehicle swore to make each shot count. They fought savagely hard to buy time for the artillery support to change position since the close range prevented any form of that particular support for the moment.

By this time, Godzilla was in the midst of so much firepower. He angrily opened his mouth and fired without warning a long blast of his atomic ray, killing anything that drove right into the beam blast. When the smoke cleared, Godzilla's sudden use of the atomic breath killed eighteen tanks, 7 APCs and other vehicles. Some crews managed to escape but they suffered horrible burns and died within seconds of stepping out into the harsh Antarctic landscape.

Stunned by the destruction, the survivors attempted to regroup and resume the defense but Godzilla immediately fired several more atomic ray blasts, killing more and sending the rest into states of shock as they surveyed the totality of the destruction. Realizing that the monster was about to break through, the lead commander on the ground yelled out, "All units to break contact, assault guns will support retreat", "Air units are to cover withdrawal".

The huge turret less AFVs roared on ahead past their shocked colleagues while reloading their guns. Once they had the beast in their sights, the guns roared again while the drivers already started to reverse their vehicles backward to keep the range open.

Soon more aircraft arrived at the battle zone and when they observed the horror occurring below them, those aerial squadrons that were on station, dove down to the deck with guns aimed at his body and missiles at the ground around him to block his path.

Still this did not deter Godzilla and he used his feet to smash his way through, sending several assault guns to crash onto the landscape, their fuel and ammunition igniting. He also started to inflict more damage on the air fleet by repeatedly firing his radioactive breath into the sky, the line of explosions that followed behind it usually signaling if the blast had (usually) killed anyone. The savage use of his radioactive breath cleared a path for Godzilla and he soon marched into the midst of panicked soldiers attempting to flee from the hellish creature, his immense form towering over them like the grim reaper.

Those that still had some fight left in them continued to blast away at their target but the intensity of the firepower was weak compared to just over an **_hour_** ago and all it did was to attract Godzilla's attention to them. He soon silenced them by firing another powerful blast that left destroyed in its wake 14 tanks, 9 APCs, 12 assault guns, and 5 Type 66 Maser tanks.

Many of the survivors who were also veterans of previous wars admitted to themselves after the spectacle that the worst of the previous wars paled in comparison to the horror all around them. They immediately kept it in the back of their minds as they continued to "fall-back" towards the beaches while screaming for help from the other army groups.

Soon the battle pushed the defenders back towards the coast with a few artillery positions nearly in the front line. As the kaiju passed near the mountains and ridges, the crews directed their guns and fired over open sights to pin him down and buy more time for the survivors to regroup and the reinforcements to enter the fighting. Stunned by the firepower impacting on him at point blank range, Godzilla stumbled back for a moment before focusing his eyes on his new targets. Blinking his eyes to clear his vision, the monster fired his atomic ray along the ridgelines, wiping out several of the artillery positions either directly or indirectly when the resulting avalanches crushed them in their positions. As more artillery weapons attempted to engage him over open sights, the monster unleashed his wrath on them. The explosions served as a warning to the stragglers that the sacrifice of their comrades was futile and that they were next.

Godzilla turned his attention back to the fleeing tanks and armored vehicles and was about to fire another blast when an immense amount of firepower strike him from behind. Stunned, he turned around and his blood-red eyes widened at the sight of two large aerial warships and more fighters bearing down on him. Striking his tail on the ground while roaring out in an angry challenge, Godzilla changed course and headed to meet the new attackers.

**Bridge of Gotengo: **

Nakano and Udea grinned at the monitor as it displayed the _Gotengo_, her sister ship, and the air fleet battering away at a surprised Godzilla. Their faces turned to looks of concern as Godzilla immediately charged at them head on with his back charged. Udea immediately yelled out, "Take evasive action" while holding on as the ship swerved hard to about Godzilla's attack. Even before the _Gotengo _steadied herself, her guns opened up again on the monster, scoring hits along the charcoal-grey hide. The other ship performed the same maneuvers and after gaining distance, both circled around the creature while providing cover for the air units as they swooped in to fire their loads.

When the troops of Group Alpha spotted the aerial reinforcements, many of them started to cheer as they knew what that meant. Filled with new vigor, the forces started to reform into some semblance of order before plunging back into the firestorm.

Godzilla's eyes widened in anger as more of his foes started to show up around them. Virtually surrounded, Godzilla lashed out even more dangerously as the bombardment continued unabated. With his main weapon nearly blocked by the constant explosions around his head, the monster smashed his way through, his long tail and enormous feet destroying anything that blocked him, but the ring of steel held.

Knowing that they finally had control over the battlefield, the international forces attempted to drive Godzilla back inland into the waiting arms of the reinforcements. The two huge battleships continued to circle Godzilla while covering for their fighters by exchanging broadsides with the beast. On the ground, the tanks and APCs circled around while the rest of the armored forces attacked Godzilla head on. Eventually the battle started inching back into the interior of the continent.

As the _Gotengo_ passed by the wreckage of the previous hours of battle, Nakano knew that their arrival had been a close call. He immediately turned to one of the communications officers and asked, "Can you ascertain the locations of the other forces". The communications officer nodded and hurried as the battle continued all around them and the ship shook from the combination of the fighting and the harsh gale wind. Despite that, the captain remained calm as the battle occurred and soon he received the information everyone desperately wanted to know: The others were all now between ten and twenty minutes away now. Nakano immediately switched to the frequency used by the ground forces directly before him, "This is Captain Nakano to all units, our ground reinforcements are 15 minutes away from us and will rendezvous with us soon", "All forces are to continue their attacks for as long as possible so to drive the bastard into an ambush". He then turned back to directing his own vessel in the fight against Godzilla.

At his control station, Douglas Gordon continued to observe the battle as he dealt with aiming and firing the weapons. He looked at his Japanese colleuges and they all thought the same thing about their chances for survival. So far, their ship had unleashed all of its destructive power on Godzilla and all it did was to make them a juicy target. They had managed to escape the monster's wrath several times but how long would their luck hold before it would be their turn to greet the grim reaper. The alarm shook them all out of their thoughts and they returned to their duties although Gordon remarked to no one in particular after seeing a devastating wave of ammunition slam into the monster's hide, "We throw the kitchen sink at the bastard and he still keeps coming back for more". Then for some odd reason, he turned to the captain and asked, "Sir, what do you have in those shells there that we're using against Godzilla".

The captain turned to him in shock and disbelief at the absurdity of the question before laughing out loud, "Something that you probably wouldn't like". Gordon was about to say more when Udea reminded him harshly of his regular duties. Gordon grumbled and returned to his station to deal with the weapons problem against the monster.

**Laterin the evening: **

For all involved, the moments of the next few days reminded them all of the horrors they had all witnessed at battlefield all over the world ever since September 1, 1939. After witnessing the combined horrors of the greatest war in human history, the beginnings of the cold war and the constant attacks by Godzilla and monsters, some wondered why they hadn't gone insane as of yet and a few wondered if it was because they already lost their humanity. And yet, there emerged a realization among many of the veterans that despite all of the horrors they witnessed, this was truly a fight worth participating for it was the best way to honor the legacies of those that came before and the one wish they had for their descendents: to never have to participate in a war themselves. That steeled them for the upcoming hailstorm as updates continued to pour in, followed by oppressive sounds of Godzilla's feet smashing the icy ground.

Despite the frigid weather, men walked outside their vehicles as they attempted to dig in. For the generals, it was attempting to make their way to a makeshift forward command post where they discussed current updates. So far it looked grim as the casualties from Group Alpha and the air fleet was astronomical. Everyone could only imagine the casualties that would result here once they all made contact with Godzilla heading their way. In fact, the briefing resembled a funeral as the generals observed each of the myriad the reports, all of them the same grim story.

As Kitagawa looked into the eyes of his fellow commanders, he spotted the exhaustion and horror he saw in his own eyes every time he looked into the mirror. He really had no idea of what to at the moment for his own wish to avenge the massacre of Tokyo drained away after days of continuous battle and the general wanted to finish this and it didn't matter whether he would survive or not.

He took a deep breath before stating, "Gentlemen, though we all come from different backgrounds, it has been a great honor to serve with all of you", "Forgive me for talking in a pessimistic tone but I wanted you all to know that for I fear that not all of us would survive this". His voice then became sterner as he continued his speech while remembering the warrior traditions that were "forbidden" in his country, "This time, we serve all of humanity, no matter where they came from and we are all honored to die in service of the human race". Though they all knew where he drew the inspiration from, it moved them for when they all took the oath to join the service, they hoped that it would be beneficial in terms of prosperity. As one, they all stood up and saluted the Japanese general as he returned it with one of their own before they all left to what could be considered their doom.

As both the American and Japanese general arrived back at the M113 APC, their eyes suddenly spotted the explosions over the horizon. Heading back inside, Kitagawa immediately grabbed hold of a radio and yelled out, "All forces prepare to engage the monster". Meanwhile, Reynolds unveiled a map of the approaching battlefield and made a few measurements before turning to the Japanese general and replying grimly to his comrade's unspoken question, "It won't be long now". Kitagawa nodded and their faces transformed into their poker ones as they and their brothers in arms prepared for death.

**In front of Group Omega: **

For five continuous hours of combat, the military forces directly blocking Godzilla's path had been steadily pushing the monster back at an ugly cost. The air units had suffered upwards to fifty percent losses and the ground units suffered much worse with some losing up to seventy or eighty percent. Clearly if they fought any longer, Godzilla would have rendered them hours de combat. As it was though, the ground troops could soon break off for they were closing in on their allies who had already dug in and waiting to greet the king of the monsters with guns loaded.

Godzilla continued to exchange long-range fire with his foes although it really didn't create enough damage for the pilots and ship drivers had learned several hard lessons and kept their distance. They mainly concentrated their attacks from behind to keep forcing the monster further back while those stuck in the front suddenly reduced their volume of fire to several sniper style shots.

Although the kaiju sensed something, he continued to attack his assailants in his line of sight. Waving his arms around, swinging his tail back and forth and shaking the ground with his feet, the monster still proved his destructive capabilities even though his couldn't bring his main weapon to bear most of the time.

Covered by the ground units that managed to get behind him, their colleagues attempted to slip by Godzilla before reuniting with the reinforcements. It proved difficult for the endless smoke and dust thrown up by the fighting made visibility virtually zero. Collisions occurred either between friendly forces, the landscape, or the monster but eventually a good portion managed to slip by the monster's blood-red eyes. When they arrived at the lines, they took a deep breath of release as they saw what awaited the enemy as he approached.

For the enemy in question, he still lashed out at his seemingly numerous foes but then suddenly they disappeared into the winds leaving a surprised radioactive saurian. The monster growled at the sudden disappearance of his foes before turning around to see if anything was behind him. He soon picked up the sounds of jet engines circling right behind him and prepared a defensive stance but to his surprise, they continued to hover while edging closer. Taking advantage of the sudden silence, he fired several blasts of his radioactive ray but the aircraft skillfully dodged the attack and continued to hover until eventually Godzilla started to follow them, his footsteps the only other sound now being heard along with the usual windstorms of the Antarctic.

For the newly arrived reinforcements, the footsteps sounded like the clock ticking off to their execution and many shivered at the grim view in front of them. When they saw Godzilla emerge from the snowstorm, many mouths stood open at the size of their opponent and the fact he seemed unharmed by the pounding endured earlier at the hands of their fellow soldiers. Despite the increasing depression of the place, they aimed all of their weapons at the creature, prepared to fight to the death.

Kitagawa also felt the same as he peaked through the windshield and spotted Godzilla over the horizon. Taking a radio in his right hand, the supreme commander whispered a few small prayers before yelling out, what many believed to be his last orders, "All forces fire at will".

As he unwittingly closed in on his hidden foes, Godzilla suddenly twisted his head as his ears picked up the sounds of hundreds of vehicles. He started to really look through the harsh winds and his red eyes widened his shock as he spotted an endless wave of tanks and other AFVs charging at him at full speed with guns blazing. Overhead, the two _Gotengo_ class battleships lead the air fleet as they attacked the stunned monster with every weapon at their disposal.

Angered at being taken by surprised, Godzilla let out a bone chilling roar of challenge before heading straight at his numerous foes, eager for blood, while explosions occurred all over his body by the score.

This **_"unkown"_** battle would rival the scale of intensity of all future wars even fought with the most modern of technology. It would also be one of the most horrific ever imagined in modern warfare.

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Author's notes:

I really had to draw on a lot of information to flesh out the battle scenes so they would comprise a mix of historical battles fought long ago and those still to come (in relation to the time period of the story).

For those who know a little about history and culture, you'll see references of it here as the military forces prepare for the all out attack.

As for the Godzilla aspects of the story, I had to check on different websites dealing with the monster of which I'm in full gratitude for the information they displayed.

I will put up more notes later.

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Authors questions:

I really worked hard on getting this battle right and from my point of view, this has been the most longest that I've ever written for a Godzilla story in a long time. I hope that I did very well by all of your standards but it is all up to you to decide. So I hope that I did my best in this case especially?

How did I structure everything here and did I make it somewhat believable for you all?

How bad do you all want the horror to really be?

For those who have listened to music from the Godzilla series, what scenes remind you of what particular scores done by any composer?

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As always, please read and review. 


	10. Fighting for every inch of ice

Chapter 10: Fighting for every inch of ice.

**Off the shore of Antarctica:**

To the crews of the warships in the area, the mission of blockading Antarctica started to bore them due to the inactivity. Being constantly at general quarters started to wear the crews out as they watched the mists of the icy continent, trying to spot any traces of the battle or that of Godzilla. In theory, if Godzilla had penetrated towards the coast, the fleet was to engage him with heavy gunfire support. Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on how one looked at it, that particular situation never came up thus far to the relief of the captains and admirals. Still they continued to run drills in case if Godzilla did truly break through and head towards the sea.

Only the carriers in the task force were continually in action during the whole operation. Operating in very deadly freezing weather, the flight deck crews of the huge warships struggled to keep their planes in operation despite the strain they were under. Meanwhile, the waiting pilots resorted to eating hot meals, drinking lots of healthy fluids and checking into the infirmaries to ensure their collective health as they rested in their quarters after flying another air support mission in the frigid cold.

Admiral Sakai observed all of this from his flagship despite the frigid weather fogging up his windows. Whistling in respect at the speed at which the carriers operated, Sakai turned to his subordinates and asked, "Any word from the ground forces"?

One of the officers replied, "From what we could gather, the military forces have started to engage Godzilla and right now they are receiving heavy casualties". The officer then apologized by stating, "I'm sorry sir but that is all we can gather at the moment".

Sakai nodded in understanding at their statement for he knew full well that once battle commenced, it turned into a harsh confusing mess for all sides. Still though, everyone watched the misty gray skies in front of them as they lit up with a mix of blue and orange with worry in their hearts and desperate to contribute to the battle now developing inland out of the range of their guns.

**Gotengo: **

The huge aerial warship shook due to the combined turbulence and the recoil of her guns as she and her sister airship continued to engage the monster. Missiles leapt from their tubes on a course to the monster, impacting on his skin with savage force. Fighters swarmed all around the huge behemoths despite the risks of friendly fire with some landing to refuel and rearm while many others using the two huge warships for cover while they launched their own attacks.

Unfortunately, that made them the prime focus of Godzilla as he switched focus from the ground into the air. He continuously fired random shots of his atomic breath at the air fleet while using his arms and legs to smash his way through any tanks and other military vehicles that drove too close to his enormous form.

Nakano and Ueda hung onto the rails as the huge ship maneuvered through the crowded sky. As he managed to regain his footing, Ueda yelled out, "Order gunners to focus on specific points and order all cameras to focus on Godzilla's body". The ship shook again as more explosions stung her hull with shrapnel and remains of aircraft caught in Godzilla's line of fire. The XO swore and replied, "Get us some distance from the others". The _Gotengo's_ engines roared as she backed away from the monster's huge form.

Nakano swore as he observed Godzilla fighting back with savage fury. The monster's blood red eyes glowed angrily as he continued to fire blast after blast of his atomic ray while he swung his tail and stomped his feet on the ice in a crazed manner. His ship shook and sparks started to shower the bridge, forcing Nakano to say to his XO, "We have to even up the odds somehow, otherwise we'll eventually lose". He immediately turned to his weapon officials and asked hopefully, "Any success in finding a weak point"?

The lead weapons officer replied grimly, "No luck sir, our cameras can't focus enough to get a good look at Godzilla's skin and by the time our guns lock on, the wounds instantly heal". The voice of some of the other officers, especially that of Douglas Gordon signified the other officer's statement and when he turned around to see Godzilla nearly right on top of another group of armored vehicles, he yelled out, "Launch missiles". The bridge shook as they saw the missiles slam right on Godzilla's head. Unfortunately, the thick skin and G-cells withstood the barrage and although momentarily stunned, the monster roared and instantly fired back at his assailant. The _Gotengo_ barley avoided the strike before retaliating with another barrage from her main weapons. As Nakano observed the results, his mind repeated what he said to his XO earlier, "We have to gain control of this battle soon or else we'll eventually lose".

**Antarctica:**

**All** of the troops on the ground shared this sentiment as they struggled to survive this icy bedlam that now surrounded them. Guns cracked, rockets launchers roared, and energy dishes sizzled endlessly as the international forces battled a creature imbued with the power of a god. The effects of battle threw up enormous amount of icy dust that made maneuverability virtually impossible.

Godzilla roared angrily at the resistance that continued to blast away at him despite the destruction he caused in return. He left a long trail of wreckage around him as he defended himself from his assailants and the devastation did not require the use of his atomic breath. The kaiju used that particular weapon against the aircraft attacking him from all sides and the two huge rocket-shaped ships circling him while their weapons blazed away.

In the M113 APC, Kitagawa and Reynolds held on as their vehicle struggled to traverse the landscape while they coordinated the battle with the other generals in their own command vehicles. Already, the casualties of the battle thus far had stunned then and the butcher's bill continued to rise steadily. They had to partially cover their ears to block out the sound while speaking over the command net.

As Kitagawa looked back at the map, he swore at their losses and replied back, "No matter what we do to give as much protection to our men, every time we engage the monster, we suffer heavy casualties". He paused before stating, "Already the forward units are almost out of ammunition and a few have almost been wiped out". He then turned to ask, "Where are we now".

Reynolds, who was also making marks on the map with another pencil replied, "We're steadily pushing him back further into the continent and towards a clearer area". He paused before stating again, "There are also several large ridges filled with glaciers within the area". The American paused for a moment hoping that his Japanese counterpart could see the advantage there.

Kitagawa immediately looked over the map and winced for although it was a good spot, if the battle deteriorated, they would barely have any room to maneuver. He turned back to observe the battle for a moment before realizing that they really had no choice for even with the staggering amount of firepower they had on hand, they barely made a dent thus far and at horrendous loss of life. Realizing that they could not actually destroy the monster, Kitagawa nodded in agreement with Reynolds's suggestion before getting back on the command net and began voicing out his new orders.

In the air, scores of aircraft from different nations continued to hammer away at the beast in support of the tanks and other armored vehicles. It proved exceedingly risky, especially for the mono-planes since they flew at low level while engaging Godzilla, exposing themselves to friendly fire from the ground units. Due to the sky being crowded with scores of aircraft of all types, command and control was difficult due to the many different tactics and languages of the nations involved. Surprisingly though, American, British, and Soviet aircraft somehow managed to operate together during the fighting, organizing themselves up into coherent strike groups before diving down on the monster with guns blazing. In return, Godzilla continued to blast away with the atomic ray, sometimes firing it while swinging his body around in a 360 degree motion.

In the rear, the maser tanks and artillery guns continued to provide steady support with the guns zeroed in on fixed areas around the monster while the maser tanks continued to fire long streams of blue energy right at Godzilla himself. When Godzilla started to change position, the gunners immediately transferred to new positions right behind the tanks before resuming fire.

Out front, the tanks and other AFVs continued to engage the monster at point-blank range despite the fear of the monster's towering form. Mixed battle groups covered each other as they extricated exposed units from the monster's destructive path but some weren't as fortunate as the kaiju's huge feet crushed them flat or smashed them aside with some pushed high into the air before landing in the midst of their comrades. All through the fight, many of the crews looked up at the sky to observe numerous explosions as Godzilla's main weapon continued to kill more and more of their own air support.

To the tank commanders in the front, the sight of their men dying right before their eyes proved to be so intolerable to the point that some of their commanders screamed panicky over the command net to fall back. Although desperate to agree, the commanders realized that if they were to fall back now, they would leave an open hole for the monster to smash through.

Kitagawa waited anxiously as the orders filtered down to the lower levels before they sent back their replies, which relieved everyone riding in the particular M113. He turned to Reynolds who immediately nodded in agreement before radioing back with some hope now, "Commence luring operations". After saying those words, both commanders turned back to observe the unfolding new operation they both hastily drew up.

The large ground force fighting in front of Godzilla began to split up with the left and right flanks trying to get around and attack from the rear while the forces in the center tried to hold Godzilla in place. Due to the intensity of the battle, the attempt to pull off the maneuver proved very tricky as the tank groups roared around and through the kaiju at full throttle and Godzilla wiped out several of them by stomping on them or sweeping them aside with his tail. Fortunately, enough got through without attracting the monster's attention and they immediately resumed fire to cover the transfer of the maser tanks. Along with the combined support of the two remaining _Gotengo_ class battleships, the monster started to change direction and headed back into the interior as he marched after his assailants. The forces formerly located in the front now attempted to keep Godzilla's back in their sights while the forces now in front of Godzilla started to fall back in stages while keeping their target focused on them.

For the next few hours the forces of the human race played a deadly game of chess with their enormous opponent. Tanks and other AFVs closed in to batter at Godzilla while the maser tanks and artillery struggled their way into new positions over the wreckage and devastation of the previous few hours.

Despite the relentless bombing from the sky, Godzilla switched his attention back towards the ground and he brought in his most feared weapon down on the grounds troops, finally raining blue death on the key element of the whole battle. Scores of tanks melted into molten radioactive puddles while the beam incinerated men caught in the open and the landscape suffered heavy damage from the horrendous heat.

The commanders saw this suddenly unfolding horror and Brezarin, in his own command vehicle, instinctively yelled out, "Bring our guns right on top of the bastard now". He ducked his head down as the artillery rained down more death around Godzilla with some shells landing uncomfortably close to their own forces engaging the monster.

Godzilla's red eyes "glowed" with anger as he observed the continuing resistance they threw up against him. He roared viciously before returning to his rampage, smashing away at the ring of steel surrounding him. Despite the constant explosions around his head, Godzilla alternated his fire between the ground and the air, cutting down their ranks in large numbers. His eyes widened as his eyes observed the seemingly endless supply of men and machines moving to in to take the place of the destroyed units.

From their respective command vehicles, the generals observed the horror and many winced at the suddenly slow pace of the area designated by the Japanese supreme commander. The European commanders were especially horrified at the casualties their smaller forces suffered at the hands of their opponent. Although the Americans, Russians, and especially the Japanese armies suffered more total deaths, they could afford it while at the rate Godzilla destroyed their forces; the battle was stretching the European contingent to the breaking point.

Fortunately though, the rear elements spotted the trap which they had been busy luring Godzilla towards for the past few hours. Kitagawa himself took a deep breath in relief at the sight and he immediately got on the radio to issue the others, "Back the target up towards the wall then get clear", "All forces in the front are to press their assaults".

Despite hating the fact that now they would have to make another pass, the rear units were the first to sneak past the monster's gaze. In spite of the continuing slaughter, with several of the vehicles destroyed by their colleagues landing straight on top of them when Godzilla knocked them aside, many artillery units made it out and they soon returned to fighting Godzilla. The APCs and other soft-skinned vehicles followed next with their drivers stepping on the gas as they maneuvered around the rampaging monster. Last to follow were the tanks, their drivers gunning their engines to full power while the gunners trained their guns on the kaiju.

Godzilla snarled as he spotted the tanks passing underneath him and his back charged up before turning and letting loose atomic death on the suddenly surprised forward units. The resulting blast nearly wiped out all of the forward units, the blast incinerating the vehicles where they stood and creating huge plumes of smoke. It also stunned the forces behind the first wave and as they observed the horror, many started to panic for they now rightly feared that Godzilla was unstoppable.

Seeing Godzilla nearly annihilate the first line of defense, Reynolds turned to Kitagawa whose mouth had equally dropped open in sight at the horror. They along with their colleagues tried everything they had learned at the academies, on the battlefields against each other and in the case of the Japanese, battling against Godzilla as well as several other monsters.

Knowing full well that they needed time to reform and press the attack, all commanders started to transmit over the command net, "Send us more air support now". After that, they concentrated on trying to stay alive as Godzilla emerged out of the smoke and flaming ruins, his blood-red eyes burning with fury, and his mouth curled up in what looked like a feral grin with sharp white teeth and fangs clearly seen as he advanced on them.

When Kitagawa personally relayed the demands of the forward units back to the rear, the air commanders reacted with surprise and shock at the order. They did not need to walk far to see the long rows of survivors slumped in their various chairs in the ready rooms. Clearly the air fleets had pushed themselves to the limit of their endurance ever since the start of the operation and to fly back in again was insane for they were also running low on fuel and especially ammunition. After a few minutes of deliberations they sent back the message, "Repeat, unable to comply with our orders, many pilots exhausted and supply situation questionable".

The moment that Kitagawa read the reply, he gritted his teeth in fury and almost squeezed the report in his hand but Reynolds managed to grab the paper from the angry Japanese general's hands. He immediately read it and then turned to Kitagawa immediately before saying, "Let me take care of this". The Japanese general turned to his American counterpart in surprise before realizing what he was offering. He moved out of the way and before returning back to directing the battle, grabbed hold of Reynolds shoulder and looked at him for a moment, his eyes saying the question in his mind". Reynolds nodded immediately at his unspoken request and then prepared the message while the battle continued all around them.

Despite the constricted area of the present battlefield, Godzilla kept up the pressure on his opponents with ruthless efficiency. The small decrease in the aerial resistance allowed Godzilla to bring his main weapon to bear and soon blue death rained down from his mouth in increasing repetition. Furthermore, the combination of the atomic ray, his large feet and the constant use of his tail, Godzilla forced his foes to fall back to gain maneuvering room.

The only support the forward units could actually rely on was the artillery hanging right behind them. Guns and rocket launchers rained their deadly loads into the area around Godzilla while masers raked the monster's skin with continuous energy fire.

In the main command vehicle, Reynolds covered his ears while continuing the headed conversation with the aerial commanders. So far he had made little headway due to the understandable obstinate nature of the air commanders. In return, when they transmitted the fact that they had lost much, Reynolds transmitted back in an angry manner worthy of a Japanese samurai warlord, "If you have read the reports transmitted from the battle zone, you'll also realized that our losses have also been high as well". The American paused for a moment, "If we don't defeat him here and now, the whole world will be open to the monster's wrath". He then added, "Would you want to have the same horror visited upon Tokyo seen in your own capitals".

That turned the trick for many of them for during the time back at port, they all visited the devastated capital city and the sight brought back harsh memories of past history and each individually swore that they would not let it happen to their own homes . Within minutes, they acquiesced to the desires of the ground forces and soon nearly every airfield within range of the battle zone was virtually empty as the air squadrons, armed to the teeth, flew back into the icy hell.

Under the sudden welcoming staggering weight of explosions and metal, the tanks started to reform back up although some formations were mere skeletons and needed to withdraw. Unfortunately, the rule of combat against such a creature was to bring in as much firepower as possible and it applied here as the higher ups demanded that the forward units, no matter how badly damaged, to stand and fight.

Godzilla's eyes winced in anger at the continuous explosions all over his body, which served to only anger him even more and he started to retaliate in a very crazed, wild manner. The combined destruction wrought by both combatants devastated the landscape, caused small avalanches weakened the ice in many places and several of the heavier vehicles drove into unexpected ditches and the crews abandoned them.

When he spotted the air fleet heading to engage him again, Godzilla immediately charged his dorsal fins and it seemed he was about to fire another blast but then observers spotted his mouth still closed and wondered what the monster was doing. They had their answer several minutes later when a ball of blue surge of energy emerged from the monster's form. The blast blinded Godzilla's opponents around him for a moment and he fired another long blast of his atomic blast, twisting his head up and down and moving his body around in a 360 arc.

It took a moment for the troops to regain their senses and when they did, they had a front row seat to the results of the kaiju's sudden action. Scores of aircraft and ground vehicles littered the landscape around the monster with some still burning due to the unexpended fuel and ammunition. In the center, Godzilla roared in satisfaction before scanning the sky for more prey. Seeing his enemies attempting to regroup on the ground, the king of the monsters focused his attention on the sky, especially the two huge rocket-shaped warships while aircraft continued to swarm around him.

**Gotengo: **

Although the air fleet continued to blast away at Godzilla, the losses the kaiju inflicted on them via indiscriminate use of his atomic breath gradually sapped their strength and their effectiveness. Eventually, the sky started to clear up as the air fleet headed back to refuel and rearm and the monster turned to focus on the two huge warships circling around his head. Without hesitating, the monster unleashed wave after wave of fire on the two warships, forcing them into evasive maneuvers and throwing off the aim of their weapons.

On the _Gotengo's_ bridge, the crew held on as the ship suddenly and constantly dodged the monster's atomic breath. Her sister ship fared little better for as the two ships dodged the continuous attacks, they could barely bring their own weapons in to support the assault. As Nakano grabbed on the rails of his chair, he turned to his XO and asked, "Can you get the status of the air units"?

Ueda replied back while observing the screens, "The air units have suffered heavily and some are incapable of performing their air support missions". He paused before stating out loud, "They're literally committing kamikaze attacks now due to the state they're in".

Both men and those on the ground who observed the air action knew what the situation report meant and Nakano immediately contacted the other ship and replied, "Close in on the monster and attack him at point blank range". Many of the crewmembers turned to him in shock for such a maneuver had already cost one _Gotengo_ and severely damaged the two others. Yet they obeyed the order after observing the battle for a few more minutes with many praying for a quick death as they readied themselves. The captain paused for a moment before giving out the order, "Bring us around so that our bows are pointing at Godzilla.

The forward drill and the engines of the two _Gotengo _class warships immediately came to life and they commenced hard turns before flying straight towards the kaiju, forward weapons blazing. Seeing his opening, Godzilla immediately turned around and fired on the _Gotengo_, the blue energy beam slamming into the starboard side, destroying the hanger and knocking out the starboard engines.

The whole crew shook in their seats as they first felt the impact of the blast and then the huge warship loosing altitude. Ueda immediately yelled out, "Check all compartments for damage". He then immediately got on the line to the engine room and yelled out, "All damage control teams to engine sections now".

Throughout the ship, the crew donned firefighting equipment and headed towards the damaged areas, some of which were partially radioactive. They tried to get to the damaged areas to rescue their trapped comrades but for some it was impossible for the hallways suffered tremendous damage, cutting off their escape route. It proved disastrous for those trapped in the hanger areas for they had to suffer the bitter cold winds when Godzilla's atomic ray tore through the hull. Some managed to find spots to rest while many others fell to their deaths.

The XO listened to the reports of the engineers for a few minutes before turning to the captain and said, "Sir, the starboard engines are knocked out, the starboard hanger is unusable and the repair crews need time to fix them".

Nakano grimly winced at the report as explosions continued to shower the bridge in sparks and shake the ship. Realizing the extent of the damage, he cursed at the unfortunate turn of events before reluctantly yelling out the order "Retreat from the battle zone", "Concentrate on getting those engines online as soon as possible, patch up the holes and then check for signs of hull damage". The captain of the _Gotengo_ then turned to look at back at the fight he was departing from and a feeling of fear emerged in his spine for he thought that he would see them all alive for the last time.

Godzilla roared in triumph as he spotted one of the rocket ships fleeing the battlefield. He immediately twisted his head around and started firing his atomic breath again at the other ship in rapid succession. The remaining _Gotengo_ class ship continued to dodge but Godzilla proved much faster in responding and leaving the airship little room to maneuver.

Seeing this, the forces on the ground immediately switched their guns to aim for Godzilla's head. Within a few seconds, guns, rockets, and energy fire exploded all around the kaiju's feline head, forcing him to cease fire and turning his attention back to the ground. He roared before turning back to continue his advance but this time, the fire thrown up by the ground forces literally forced him back for the artillery fired in a carpet style format in which the tanks and APCs advanced from behind as they forced Godzilla back to the ridgelines.

In their M113 APC, Reynolds and Kitagawa looked at the situation map for a few moments before realizing that their preemptory actions had just condemned their air units to a death sentence. Realizing the need to finish him off quickly, Kitagawa popped up through the hatch a few seconds to scan the horizon, especially the ridgelines and glaciers. He then returned back into the hatch and spoke on the command net, "All forces are to commence luring Godzilla as close as they can to the ridgelines", "After getting him into position, clear out of the way while the artillery starts bombarding the ridges to create an avalanche and bury him alive". The Supreme Commander of Operation Final Strike paused before stating silently, "I hope to see you all after we conclude this fight". Switching off the radio, Kitagawa turned to receive an approving nod from the American general before turning back to view what would hopefully be Final Strike's **final act**.

Next chapter: Sheer carnage (having enough of the resistance, Godzilla goes berserk and starts wiping out the international military force before he heads back to the beaches and nearly reaches it before the combined forces push him back although at horrendous cost. Seeing that there is no other choice, the _Gotengo_ prepares to take off for a rendezvous with destiny (aka the first few minutes of the 28th Godzilla movie "Godzilla: Final Wars").

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No author's note this time.

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As for the questions, how well did I begin to prepare the lead-up into the first few minutes of Godzilla: Final Wars? And as always, how well did I structure the battles and what musical scores from the Godzilla series would you use here.

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As always: please read and review. 


	11. Sheer Slaughter

Chapter 11: Sheer Slaughter:

**Interior of Antarctica: **

As far as the human eye could see, the battle between man and monster devastated the continent. Explosions rocked the landscape incessantly as the fighting continued to rage and above the howling winds and detonation of munitions, everyone heard the unmistakable chilling roar of the king of monsters as the battle wore on.

Godzilla roared in anger as the forces of humanity cornered him and pounded away at him. In such a constricted area, the tanks and other AFVs prevented Godzilla from again bringing his main weapon to bear while exposing the ground forces to close quarter combat. Miniature avalanches constantly occurred as the explosions and the constant tremors shook and shattered the huge glaciers. Many units simply disappeared in the enormous white mists the avalanches created all around them, burying many of the vehicles and their crews in the rubble.

In the gray sky, the air forces of the world used the remaining Gotengo as a rallying point to gather their strength as they observed the battle zone. With the density of the smokescreen and the intensity of the fire at an all time high, the air forces could not dive back into the killing zone without risking heavy losses. So many planes headed back to their bases while the rest landed back on the remaining Gotengo, while the huge airship continued to bombard the general area around the kaiju.

From the view of their APC, Generals Kitagawa and Reynolds watched as the tanks attempted to pin Godzilla in place (and hopefully overwhelm his cell defense system), while the artillery pounded the mountainsides. But Godzilla still fought savagely and although he could barely advance, every attempt to push him back cost even more lives.

As more explosions lit up the sky, Reynolds turned to Kitagawa and said, "With the firepower we have at our disposal, we can't seem to be doing something as simple as burying him in an avalanche of ice". The American general then said, "What we're fighting here is an abomination".

Kitagawa replied, "Haven't we have had enough abomination to plague us for the foreseeable future"? He then looked up to the smoke-filled sky and after spotting the _Gotengo_ and only a few squadrons and swore before yelling out loud, "It already seems that one element has already given way". They both knew what that meant and after a few minutes of observing battle, Kitagawa returned to direct the battle and prepare for the eventually of retreat.

By this time, Godzilla had enough of the resistance the human forces on the ground threw up against him and his eyes burned blood red as he prepared to strike back. He immediately charged his back and closed in his mouth before letting loose another nuclear pulse from within his own body.

The blast dispersed the icy dust and blinded the surrounding ring of steel, both in the ground and in the air. Wasting no time, Godzilla turned to the remaining Gotengo class warship and instantly unleashed a full blast of his atomic breath on the blue airship.

The blue beam cut across the sky, killing several aircraft before it impacted on the starboard side near the bow. Within seconds, secondary explosions occurred along the hull as heavily damaged systems shorted out. Soon the ship started to loose altitude and several smaller engines stopped functioning. Yet she continued to fight back, her guns firing full broadsides against the monster and keeping his attention on her as her crew attempted to safety land their damaged craft.

Unfortunately, they attracted Godzilla's ire and he fired another fatal blast at the beleaguered airship. The beam melted through the ruptured armor and destroyed her critical systems as well as igniting the ship's magazines. The ship exploded in a huge fireball and her remains rained down on the horrified ground troops as they realized that Godzilla had almost gotten free of the trap and that they were his next target.

Before the commanders could react to the losses of the air units, the monster's roar attracted their attention and they turned to see blue death rain down on their forward units. When their eyes managed to adjust up to the sudden flash of the explosions, they saw that the first line of the ring of steel thrown up around Godzilla was now nothing more than a ring of blasted hulks. Above them, Godzilla roared in victory before heading towards the rest of the ground forces at a fast speed, his feet and tail shaking the ground even more and his eyes focused completely on them.

The commanders immediately got on the line to inquire about the status of their units but after hearing the grim news, they all wished that they hadn't for the reports their subordinates transmitted stated that their units were incapable of any offensive action. Realizing that there was nothing they could do, Kitagawa gave the order he most hated to give in all his time in the service, "All units fall back".

For those in the front line, it could not have arrived at a better/worse time for it started to break down the morale of the troops. They had been fighting continuously for nearly five hours and many units were mere skeletons while the troops in those still relatively intact were dead tired. Many of the sub-units commanders had already feared that the men were on the point of breaking and the order now just spurred their fears on further.

As he observed his foes preparing to disengage, Godzilla charged his back and fired another blast against them, first aiming the beam at the rear and directing it back to the forward units. The beam sliced through scores of tanks and other AFVs reducing them to molten puddles while incinerating their crews into their most elemental forms.

When the troops saw the blue beam incinerating those in Godzilla's line of fire, the panic really started to seep in for unit discipline started breaking down and the withdrawal became a retreat. The sudden flood of the retreat of the international force soon created a traffic jam, leaving those in what was now the rearguard completely vulnerable to the monster's wrath.

As he took another peek at the rear guards, Kitagawa got on the line to the beaches. It took a few minutes due to the confusion of battle but once it began to clear, he immediately radioed to the beaches and to the fleet to prepare for the monster's arrival. His American colleague also got on the line to confer with the air fleets and figure out what went wrong on their end.

**JMSDF Amatsukaze/Costal sectors: **

When the first reports of the deteriorating situation on the mainland began to reach the fleet, Admiral Sakai immediately jumped into action. He got on the line to the rest of the fleet and yelled out, "All units prepare to engage the enemy". He hoped that the ground units could defeat Godzilla without the direct assistance of the fleet but the constant stream of reports from the battlefield dashed that hope.

Throughout the international fleet, crews from all nationalities rushed to their stations and soon every possible weapon bear in support of a still friendly coast. For the Americans, this brought back memories of the battle off the Japanese coast one year earlier. There as part of the US-Japan security treaty, the American Navy brought in cruisers armed with a new type of cruise missile, codenamed Frontier, to attack Godzilla. Unfortunately due to the guidance systems, the rockets proved useless and only created dust around the monster while driving their target to commit more destruction. This time though, all ships carried a mix of guns and enhanced missile systems to use against the monster.

On the beaches, chaos reigned as the report of the retreat filtered back from main forces. Fresh reserve units, although battered by the cold that everyone else dealt with, rushed to the defensive positions while supply runs between the ships and the shore ceased so as to limit confusion once the fighting returned to the coast.

In the midst of the fleet, the _Gotengo_ floated silently while replenishment ships and repair crews swarmed around her. With the news that Godzilla was heading back to the coast broadcast all over the command net, the ship's crew struggled to put her back into action. As they worked, everyone had their ears glued to the radios and speakers as it continued to relay updates from the front.

On the front line, explosions continued to rain down everywhere around both men and beast. Although the numerous explosions did harm Godzilla, it was momentarily and his cells compensated for the damage. The explosions occurring around the humans had much more permanent effects, killing and wounding many of them.

As they looked at the map, the American commander and Japanese commander of Operation Final Strike felt the Damocles sword hanging over them as the ground force made its way back to the coast. Reynolds poked his head up to see the enormous form of Godzilla gaining on them, his mouth growling and blood-red eyes focused on them all. He sat back down and turned to his Japanese counterpart, his face shaking as he said, "I hope this dammed race ends soon". An outside explosion gave confirmation to the desire of the statement proven and Kitagawa immediately got on the radio to inquire on the distance to the beaches and the answer he was given disturbed him.

All along the line, chaos reigned as the retreat towards the beaches continued while gun and missile fire rained overhead from prepared positions that lead all the way to the beaches. As the tanks passed the artillery guns, their crews looked on with open mouths as the gunners stood their ground and several Type 66 maser tanks soon broke off from their parent formations and added their firepower to the rearguards.

Godzilla snarled as his foes continued to offer resistance, though the intensity of the firepower was much smaller than even a few hours earlier. He soon switched his attention and started eliminating the gun positions one by one with a blast of his atomic breath. When the kaiju fired his atomic breath on a gun position, the result was the position enveloped in numerous explosions before a huge plume of smoke in the shape of nuclear explosion rising up from the flames. He continued on his march to the sea while blasting every makeshift strongpoint in sight, mostly with one blast of his atomic breath.

Although they could not hold their common enemy in place for more than a few seconds, the artillery and maser tanks were doing an invaluable service for by pinning Godzilla down for a few seconds, they took the pressure off their colleagues. More importantly, the delays bought time for the survivors to reach the beaches, where they planned to make their stand. As he passed by the remaining artillery positions, Kitagawa could not help but salute them for they acted in the best codes of bushido, the way of the warrior. For Brezarin, it was more personal for it reminded him of the sight of artillery and anti-tank gunners standing their ground in the worst possible odds in an attempt to kill more of the hated Germans during the darkest days of World War II.

The battle soon made its way back to beach Omega and as soon as Kitagawa saw the preparations he communicated with the flagship of the fleet, "I hope that you'll be ready to greet our visitor properly".

Admiral Sakai replied on the line, "We're just hope that our guest won't be late". He then paused before asking, "Is General Reynolds there"? Kitagawa nodded and gave the radio transceiver to the American and then Sakai asked him, "If I recall general, you fought at Inchon in Korea right? Reynolds nodded before Sakai continued, "Then I hope that you'll be impressed by the firepower we're throwing at the bastard".

Reynolds laughed at the surprising promise the Japanese admiral made, "I'm sure that I'll be impressed at the entertainment you'll provide for the audience". He then sat down and looked at the supreme commander for a moment before saying very seriously, "I truly hope that Sakai is right". Kitagawa nodded in grim agreement as their APC made its way to the "rear" area.

As Godzilla approached the coast, the mist started to thicken from the constant battle, blinding the kaiju somewhat and providing some camouflage to the awaiting defenders. Despite the gradual thickening of the sky around them, the troops could not miss Godzilla's huge form closing in on them.

After a long period of silence with only the sound of the howling winds, Godzilla's eyes adjusted to the dark landscape and then widened in surprise as he spotted the tanks and The monster picked up speed as he closed in on more potential victims, his fleet and tail shaking the already brittle ground.

Seeing this, Admiral Sakai turned to his weapons officer and nodded before he turned back to observe the oncoming storm while the alarms started to go off. Then the ship shook as her guns started to roar along with the rest of the entire fleet.

When everyone on the beach heard the immense noise of gunfire, they turned to see the sea behind them erupt in smoke and flame. They then turned to watch in horror as the shells exploded around Godzilla **and** right in front of them.

Godzilla's eyes widened in surprise as the enormous explosions occurred all around him. Some shells actually landed in places in and around the monster and actually forced him back for a few moments. He growled in anger at the surprise assault and roared out as if challenging another creature before heading straight for the defense line.

Guns chattered, bombs and shells exploded, and rockets roared straight for the kaiju as the armies attempted to coordinate their fire at different points on his body, hoping to eventually overwhelm his cell defense system. For the inexperienced fighters, they hoped that the immense fire they had at hand now would defeat the bastard once and for all. The veterans did not share that sentiment and many suspect that it would be their turn to die.

Godzilla resumed his advance but the savage firepower started to really slow him down. His red eyes burned with hatred as the explosions occurred all around him and it prevented him from brining his main weapon on to bear. The storm of fire soon generated so much smoke that it blinded Godzilla once again and he roared in hellish anger as he blinked to clear the flash of explosions from his eyes.

In the sea, the water around the ships flashed yellow as the guns continued to roar. Destroyers headed in close to the shore while cruisers hanged back to deliver their salvos. The ships zigzagged across the water while their turrets and rocket launchers kept their sights on Godzilla.

Despite undergoing hurried repairs, the _Gotengo_ added her firepower to that of the fleet, the ship shaking from the recoil of the guns. On her bridge, Nakano and Udea looked at the screen as shellfire slammed on his hide. After another wave of explosions pushed Godzilla back, the XO turned to one of the other officers and asked, "What is the status of the repairs". One of the engineer officers replied that repairs were almost complete. Both men smiled as they awaited the chance to really return back and engage the target head on.

As Kitagawa observed the combined firepower stopping Godzilla in his tracks, he considered his options for his forces could not keep this up forever. The previous attempt to bury Godzilla had come close to success but Godzilla managed to free himself and drive them back to the beaches. The general immediately unveiled one of the maps and looked for any mountain formations similar to the ones inland. He then looked back to Reynolds who was busy arguing with the air commanders and asked, "Any chance on getting the air support up and running".

Reynolds turned to him with a haggard look on his face and said, "Right now they're willing to but that is it, if we have to withdrawal again then don't expect anymore air support".

Kitagawa cursed and looked back at the map for a few moments before deciding on the next plan of attack, "Signal all units to launch an all out attack and push the target back to the ridges", "All ships are to coordinate with the ground forces in luring target towards designated point". As he got off the line, the Japanese general felt a shiver go up his spine as he realized the enormity of what he was attempting pull off and the consequences should it fail.

For some time, the stalemate continued with Godzilla attempting to move forward and the combined forces throwing him back at a heavy price. However, soon the fire began to switch from direct fire to general bombardment, blanketing the area around Godzilla in white smoke. The kaiju roared in annoyance as the direction of the fire blocked his line of sight and he could barely retaliate against his now hidden opponents. His maw opened up and he started firing several random blasts of his atomic breath. Although the beam did not kill anyone, the sight of the energy weapon unnerved them as they continued to blast away.

Kitagawa observed the bombardment for some time and once he believed that Godzilla was virtually blind, he nodded to an equally worried Reynolds who then got on the line and said, "To all tanks, drive like hell". Saying those words seemed to have prematurely aged the American and he said quietly to the Japanese general, I hope that this will be worth all of the sacrifice".

Acting as if linked together, the forces on the front line suddenly emerged from their positions and headed into the thick man-made mist surrounding the kaiju with guns blazing. Directed by aerial controllers and a lot of luck, the tanks and other fast AFVs drove through and around Godzilla before resuming their fire and directing his attention towards them. Meanwhile, the artillery and remaining Type 66 maser tanks continued to bombard the general area around the creature, pinning him in place as the rest began to advance.

Despite the numerous explosions blinding his face, the monster was still full of fight and he started to move at a faster pace, as he resumed his advance, his feet and tail creating an obstacle course the tanks plunged blindly into as they attempted to outflank him. Although virtually blind, his ears picked up the sounds of armored units massing behind him and ignoring the stinging fire behind him, the kaiju turned around and started to pursue the tank units now hammering him from behind.

Once Godzilla started to head straight for them, the tanks began to fall back while maintaining formation and maintaining fire on him. At the same moment, the units still on the beaches began their own march while the fleet began to sail while attempting to keep the monster in range of their guns.

As Nakano observed the fleet breaking formation, he angrily turned to Udea and yelled out, "Aren't the repairs completed yet"?

Udea spoke calmly, "The engineers are almost finished, they just need a few more minutes".

Nakano slammed his right hand in his chair and said, "Finish up as soon as possible since I want to get in there". The others on the bridge agreed with that particular statement but it could not speed up the progress of the repair crews while the rest continued their pursuit of the beast.

**Interior of Antarctica:**

For the next few hours, it seemed that the new push had gone well since despite suffering heavy casualties as always, the ground forces managed push Godzilla back towards the designated ridges. When the mountains came into view, the tanks maneuvered around the monster again so that nothing was between the glaciers and Godzilla once the gunners switched their fire. Shells from the sea soon joined in the bombardment, creating huge avalanches that started to hamper Godzilla's movement.

Unfortunately, the constant fighting had only served to enrage Godzilla further and soon he had enough of this resistance. His blood red eyes glowed hot with fury as he observed the ring of steel thrown around him for a moment before charging his back. This time though, the glow of his dorsal fins was not blue but red, which not even the veterans had seen thus far in the war against Godzilla. Before anyone could react, Godzilla unleashed the worst form of hell on them with his maw dropped open and hellish red death rained down upon his foes. This time, the red flame really did incinerate its victims into their atom forms, their remains scattered across the wind.

Godzilla growled in glee at the devastation and began his advance, firing his now red-atomic breath in rapid succession despite the intense fire still bombarding him. Now though, the blame cut down the ranks of his enemies by the score while smashing the others aside.

The commanders watched in horror as the now crazed monster really take the offensive against them. Realizing that humanity had actually lost, Kitagawa got on the command net and yelled out with a heavy heart, "All forces are to make their way to the coast and evacuate, ships and airplanes are to provide cover". He slammed the radio back as he considered the consequences of his decision, lost in his own thoughts as the battle now continued around them. Each one of the others now had similar macabre thoughts about the horror they were common witnesses to.

**Bridge of Gotengo**:

The repair crews had just about finished patching up the last of the damage when news of the disastrous turn in the land battle arrived over the command net. Stunned at the report and feeling the need to see it personally, Nakano yelled out, "Can you display the image of the battlefield". The crew fulfilled the request and soon they all saw the devastation.

Scores of vehicles lay along the landscape, smashed to pieces with some still burning and many with the corpses of their crew lying in their seats as Godzilla's main weapon killed them all. Standing in the middle of it, Godzilla roared in triumph as he spotted the rest of his foes scattering away like mice. He turned around and resumed pursuit, his eyes now back to normal and his atomic ray transformed back into its standard color of blue and white.

With anger boiling within him, Nakano turned to Udea who had the same look in his eyes as he did before stating, "Signal all to prepare for a do-or-die attack". Udea nodded and then repeated the order as alarms started to ring around the ship.

The crew on the bridge looked at him in horror for a few moments before Nakano explained his decision, "With the air forces badly hammered and the ground units utterly destroyed, we're the only thing standing in Godzilla's way". He then eyed the non-Japanese crew members for a moment before stating, "But if you feel that you're not up to it then you have my full permission to depart the ship".

The wait lasted for a few seconds before Douglas Gordon spoke, "Sir, I don't know about you but from what I seen here, we all prefer to stay here until we finally defeat the bastard or he kills us in the process".

Nakano smiled at the American's surprising statement before yelling out, "All right then, and all hands to battle stations and prepare to engage the enemy". Within seconds, the great warship lifted from the water again before heading into the mainland, her drill spinning rapidly, her engines roaring within the winds and her hanger doors closed as she flew towards a rendezvous with destiny.

**

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Author's Notes: **

This was one very long battle and I felt that I had to pull out everything but the kitchen sink to give this a chance of making it work.

As you can see, I think I may have put in a few clichés that many of you have seen in other movies, Godzilla or otherwise.

As you can see, I put in some references from the Godzilla series (in this case, its mainly the earlier ones).

**

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Author's Questions: **

Since we all know what is coming, anyone have any really good ideas on brining a closure to this.

What did you like overall about this story?

Summary of next chapter: The first few minutes of Godzilla: Final Wars.

Notes on ground formations:

Army group:

Command group,

Heavy artillery, Mortars and Rocket Launchers

Light vehicles Maser tanks Light vehicles

Tanks

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As always: please read and review. 


	12. Victory at last

Chapter 12: Victory at last.

**Interior of Antarctica**

Though despite being a set-piece battle, the attempt to contain and bury Godzilla in an artificial avalanche transformed it partially into a running firefight with vehicles swarming all around the kaiju while avoiding death from all quarters. Tanks and APCs traversed the terrain while their gunners kept Godzilla in their sights. Maser tanks and artillery hung back while blasting the landscape around Godzilla. The monster in turn, continued to fire random shots of his atomic breath while smashing the landscape in front of his foes with his feet and tail.

Airplanes roared in from all directions while attempting to use cover to engage Godzilla before he retaliated. It proved exceedingly difficult for the constant explosions in the area generated an enormous smokescreen and the air fleet encountered difficulties in engaging the target while trying to stay alive. Flying in the thick smoke provided many ways for pilots to die ugly deaths for they flew in virtually blind at high speed.

Godzilla roared as another wave of explosions slammed all over his body. Though his eyes could penetrate the smoke screens, he could only ascertain a general location and therefore the military forces managed to reduce somewhat the casualties caused by Godzilla's atomic breath. However the casualties still continued to mount with nearly all units at thirty percent of their former strength when they first arrived on the continent.

As the commanders listened in to the reports over the command net, they had long ugly looks on their faces. The constant fighting had transformed the ring of steel into a flimsy "metal" fence with cracks already appearing in many sections. Already, they had transferred units with different nationalities all around the barrier to keep the steel ring intact.

Off in the distance near the coast, the ships of the international fleet continued to fire their guns in support of the ground troops although it proved extremely hazardous. The ships steamed in as close as possible, with many nearly running aground, as they attempted to gain clear shots at their target.

After Kitagawa observed Godzilla using his atomic breath to incinerate another wave of tanks and ground vehicles, he winced before getting on the radio and said, "All units are to take any necessary measures to maintain their safety and keep him pinned in". He paused before stating "Artillery units are to redirect all fire on the ridges", "Signal the remaining reserves to head up now".

Godzilla growled in anger as he spotted the numerous explosions along the ridges and the resulting avalanche crashing down on him. The weight of the ice shards slammed into Godzilla, knocking him down on the ground and pelting him repeatedly. As he turned around, Godzilla's maw dropped open and blue flame burned the following ice shards and clearing the rubble already on top of him. After rising from the rubble, Godzilla fired again at the landscape around the forward units, killing some and burying the others in the rubble of the landscape. The king of the monsters roared in anger before returning to attacking his assailants again.

**Bridge of **_**Gotengo**_

Everyone on the bridge of the huge warship listened in silent concentration as the sounds of the battle filtered through the command net. When they heard the sounds of Godzilla or his atomic breath, nearly everyone jumped out of their seats. Seeing this, Nakano yelled out, "Everyone keep calm alright". He then contacted the engine room and asked, "Is there any chance for more speed".

In the overheated engine room, the crews struggled under immense pressure and heat generated by the enormous engines. Add to that, they hadn't finished completely with the repairs. As the chief engineer observed for a moment, he got on the phone and replied "We're already at 105 percent; to go any more would endanger the whole ship".

Nakano cursed out loud, "Dam it, we have to get there as soon as possible". He paused before stating, "Do what you need to do but get us there on the double". He then reinserted the phone back before he asked out loud, "Can we get a visual on the battle yet?"

Ueda shook his head in the negative and replied, "All we can really display is the general battle zone". He immediately put up the display on the main screen and soon Nakano understood why". The captain cursed before whispering as if his voice would accelerate the ship's speed, "We have got to move faster".

**Interior of Antarctica:**

Unfortunately it seemed that the forces on the ground would not hold in the face of the relentless monster. Despite the shifting of units back and forth along the steel ring and the arrival of reserves to bolster the firepower, the forces of humanity still were no closer to defeating the monster once and for all.

Instead, they were now fighting for their own lives. Ironically in the face of the despair and horror, the situation lead to many acts of heroism with units from many nations defending other units in which they would have rather shoot at during a war between humans. When American APCs and Russian BMPs rolled by vehicles still partially intact, the crew ran out to check for any survivors before heading back into the battle.

Other such cases of heroism included Western tank units trying to cover Russian tank units as Godzilla closed in on them.

However, such heroism, in any number would only delay the inevitable destruction for now even though the ground forces could maneuver; it still was a grinding battle of attrition in which Godzilla always won. For anything less than the atomic bomb, the amount of firepower brought on hand still did not make any difference against the kaiju's thick hide and G-cells.

As Kitagawa, Reynolds, and their colleagues poked their heads up from their command vehicles, the slaughter in front of them really drove home the senselessness of it all. The sight of the number of dead mounting very rapidly finally broke their sanity as they realized the futileness of challenging a god-like creature born from the darkness of humanity itself. As Godzilla incinerated another group of tanks, Kitagawa cursed quietly a promise, "If we lose, then we'll make sure that this bastard pays for every inch". He got on the radio and yelled out, "All units regroup at fallback coordinates".

Reynolds looked at his Japanese counterpart and worried for a moment as he realized that the Japanese general was contemplating a suicidal fight to the finish. The thought of being in the same shoes as that of Japanese soldiers during the war in the Pacific really unnerved him but he threw that aside as several large explosions brought his attention back to the battle.

In Brezarin's case, he raged at the fact that despite all of the sacrifices his men endured, the battle still continued to turn against his forces. He let out a stream of curses at the capitalists for leading them all into this hell and for not having the courage to do the unthinkable and use WMDs.

For the aerial squadrons, this was the worst phase of the battle since they were virtually fighting alone. The tactics they practiced back in Japan were now useless and besides, the losses prevented them from operating in large formations necessary to survive an attack on Godzilla. Resorting to smaller squadrons allowed for more effective cover but it exposed the air squadrons to further dangers. Already many had suffered losses up to seventy percent of nominal strength. When the remains of each air unit returned to its respective base, the air commanders knew that the air support had finally had it and admitted as much to the forces on the ground.

As the fighting continued to rage and more men continued to die, it became evident that Operation Final Strike was a disaster of the first order. Unfortunately, there was no where the survivors could go so there was no choice to retreat, only to stand and die. Once Godzilla killed them all, the world would once again fall under threat.

It took some time for the scattered forces to reach the rendezvous point and they still had to deal with the rampaging radioactive kaiju blasting away at them. Once the scattered units formed up into a large ground armada, they plunged back into the inferno with reckless abandon. They also provided a single target for Godzilla and he soon retaliated by firing a long blast of his atomic breath at them, inflicting heavy casualties on the tightly bunched units.

In the resulting reorganization, confusion reigned with the result being masers and artillery now fighting alongside the tanks with the gunners firing over open sights. This proved dangerous as the Type 66 masers proved exceptionally vulnerable to energy-based weapons and instantly blew up when a beam weapon struck it or the surrounding area.

Despite the gradually increase and concentration of firepower, Godzilla continued his advance and soon the lead units were blasting away at him at point blank range in a vain attempt to force him back. Godzilla growled before he waded into the midst of the lead elements, his tail and feet smashing his opponents aside with many of them ignited in an orgy of explosions.

A swarm of energy fire attracted his attention to the maser tanks blazing away at them. With his back glowing blue, he fired another blast at the maser group, the heat of the beam instantly igniting them and destroying other vehicles within the vicinity.

When the Japanese supreme commander saw Godzilla massacring the maser tanks, he gritted his teeth at the sight of all the dead and his mind shut down as the full weight of the catastrophe weighed in on him. The other commanders in their own vehicles watched with similar reactions at the horror. Yet they did not alter from the present tactic since no one had any ideas left for defeating the king of the monsters.

With no orders, from above, subunit commanders decided that they had enough of the useless fighting and many started to retreat towards the beaches even though they all knew the chances of escaping the icy hell was virtually zero. Godzilla roared in victory as the tank forces scattered before him and he soon started to rain instantaneous blue-white death from his maw.

**Bridge of **_**Gotengo**_

As the remaining _Gotengo_ continued to edge ever closer to the battle zone, its crew could see the instant flashes of explosions. Nakano continued to whisper the words, "Get us there faster" but he knew it was completely useless. When the large warship passed by a retreating air squadron, they immediately exchanged messages with the air units information the huge warship of the disaster playing right up before them. With that, Nakano yelled out, "All personnel to battle stations". The alarm started to sound and the crew rushed to their stations. When the ship was ready for combat, Nakano ordered, "Get us within visual range and of the monster and start the forward drill".

The crew turned to the captain in alarm for they feared that he would unleash another suicide strike but Nakano assuage their fears, "I plan to surprise the monster before engaging him". That barely provided and reassurance to the crew as they felt the ship's engines roar at their maximum crescendo.

When they finally got close enough, the crew of the _Gotengo_ got a first hand view of the carnage. Numerous vehicles lay strewn across the landscape with some still on fire. Above it all and with a storm blowing all around him and giving him a ghostly form, Godzilla roared in victory at the devastation. Shells continued to land all around him but the explosions proved more of an annoyance than a threat as Godzilla resumed his present course to the sea.

Realizing the small amount of time left, Captain Nakano immediately got on the line and spoke out his orders, "Set course to take us through the glaciers at full speed", "Once we're though, focus all weapons fire on the monster". He sat down and said for all to hear, "Let the numerous sacrifices on the ground not be in vain".

With the eventual decrease in the level of firepower, Godzilla's ears soon picked up the sound of the icy Antarctic winds. He roared in victory and started to turn around and head back to the Pacific Ocean when he suddenly sensed something shadowing him. His eyes scanned the horizon but all he saw were wrecked vehicles, the remains of dead soldiers and the endless white show. Suddenly his eyes blinked as he spotted a formation of glaciers shatter and a long blue rocket-shaped like object emerge bearing down on him, its forward end spinning. Growling in anger, Godzilla switched course and headed straight towards the intruder, his red eyes focusing completely on the new target.

The next few minutes would make history as the crew on the bridge watched with grim looks on their faces. As the ranges closed, one of the weapons officers started yelling out the ranges for their forward guns. After waiting for a few seconds, Nakano yelled out, "Commence firing".

The forward guns of the ship opened up with a vicious roar. Shells slammed on Godzilla and he instantly retaliated by firing his atomic breath at the starboard side of the ship. The blue energy beam sliced through the two forward turrets, damaged the conning tower and once again disabled the starboard engines.

Everyone on the bridge grabbed a hold of their seats as they felt the ship shudder from the blast before losing altitude. Busy with attempting to repair the damage and too focused on Godzilla, they all didn't felt the ship crashing on the Antarctic landscape. Once the ship slammed into the landscape, it shook the entire ship, throwing several people around the room and causing more damage. Ignoring the shower of sparks, Nakano yelled out grimly, "Keep fighting".

After hearing the damage about the forward weapons, Ueda also yelled out, "Arm all missiles now". The crew attempted to comply with the orders as on the main screen Godzilla watched them as if curious by the lack of action from his prey. After a few moments, he started to advance for the kill on the heavily damaged warship.

Both Nakano and Ueda watched the view screen as if awaiting their own execution when the ground started to shake beneath them. They, along with the rest of the bridge crew turned to see the Antarctic landscape splitting open in huge jagged cracks. Ueda immediately sounded the alarm, "All hands brace for earthquake and landslides".

Then, as if someone actually started to smile down on humanity from on high, the earthquake opened up a large hole in the ground around the king of the monsters. The combination of days of relentless fighting had taken their toll on a landscape created millions of years ago and now it felt to the living creatures on the continent as if the continent was going to give way under the devastation. Godzilla attempted to keep his balance but once the cracks started to emerge in the ground between his feet, he slipped and started to fall. Seeing the opening, Nakano yelled out, "Shoot that mountain".

At his station, Douglas Gordon, was busy attempting to help reactivate with the weapons systems when he saw the unfolding situation. Swiftly jumping into the seat, Gordon pulled the firing mechanism with his left land with his mouth wide open in a scream.

Behind the damaged conning tower, the blast doors of the missile silos opened up and a wave of missiles poured out towards the mountainside. Everyone waited for the impact which was not long in coming.

Struggling to escape from the newly formed gorge, Godzilla did not notice the missiles striking a large glacier formation above him until his ears picked up the avalanche. His face turned around and his red eyes widened in shock but it was already too late to use the atomic ray as the avalanche started to bury him completely. Roaring in defiant anger at the unexpected turnaround, the king of the monsters landed on the bottom with an enormous thud that, along with the weight of the icy avalanche falling down on him, knocked him unconscious. The avalanche continued for a few more seconds until an enormous pile of icy rubble marked Godzilla's location.

As the impact of the last few minutes started to seep into their minds, they stood up and started to congratulation each other as they realized what they had just done. In his seat, Gordon took a deep breath as the adrenaline started to fade off and he paid no attention as his colleagues at the weapons station came to congratulate him. Both Nakano and Ueda turned to each other and smiled grimly at the sudden good fortune before Nakano turned back to the screen to ensure that they really did score a victory against the hated monster. Ueda then phoned the engineering room and asked, "Now can you get us airborne again". The voice on the other end of the line replied with giddy confidence, "With no interruptions, we should be able to repair the engines in no time". Ueda smiled before turning for Nakano who nodded and then to the communications officers before telling them, "Send a signal to all remaining forces, have defeated Godzilla". The officers rushed to fulfill their new orders while the congratulations continued.

**Landing beaches/warships of the international task force: **

Back on the beaches, doom and gloom hung in the air as the transport ships began to load the numerous wounded onboard. Units streamed in from the interior until enormous traffic jams made reloading almost impossible. The wounded had scars and burns over their bodies while ice started to form around the faces of a good portion of the wounded.

On the bridge of the _Amatsukaze_, Sakai conferred with the ground commanders, who had looks of frozen horror on their faces as cooks provided them hot drinks. He continued to look back at the continent and saw no more explosions, which he felt, meant that they commanders would soon have company in the insane asylum when they returned to Japan. However, fate had a different path in mind when the admiral started to hear his communications officers talking wildly as if at a sumo wrestling match. He immediately walked to them to see that they had smiling faces. Angry that they could be smiling at such a time like this, Sakai roared, "What is going on here"?

The news they had in their hands allowed them to withstand the admiral's anger and one of the officials replied impetuously, "Sir we have just received word from the _Gotengo_ and it says that the ship has defeated Godzilla, sir".

When the admiral heard that, his mouth dropped open and several cups landed on the deck before smashing. As if fearing this would be a dream, Sakai asked for everyone in the room, "Are you sure"? The communications officer nodded before handing him the note and Sakai read it for a few minutes to ensure fate was not playing tricks on him. He handed it to the ground commanders who immediately looked over the message themselves for a few minutes before Kitagawa turned to Sakai and attempted to say in confident tone, "Halt all evacuation and send engineering teams to the _Gotengo's_ location". Sakai and his subordinates nodded and moved off the conduct their duties, unable to believe their good fortune.

When they transmitted the message on the beach, the troops reacted the same way for a moment before they headed back in, hoping that the sound they would only hear were the eternal Antarctic winds. Eventually they arrived at the _Gotengo's_ location and then when the Geiger counters started to crackle, they turned to see a mountain of ice and in it, the enormous form of their enemy. Slowly, it began to sink in that they really did defeat the monster and they soon pass the word up the chain of command to ensure confirmation of their success. Once the news began the filter through, the relief began to be felt by all for it really was true that they would be returning home. And that was worth celebrating once they departed from the South Pole, **hopefully permanently**.

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Author's Notes: Well now I can say I'm finally finished with the story. If I do decide to do an epilogue, it will be one more chapter but it will be a lead in to the movie Godzilla: Final Wars.

Right now, I feel exhausted after writing all of this and despite being proud of pulling off something like this, like a military offensive, I'm running out of steam.

I hope I did a good leadup to the first few minutes of Godzilla: Final Wars.

And as always, please read and review, it would be appreciated.


	13. Preparing for the future

Chapter 13: Preparing for the future.

**International Fleet, northern part of Philippine Sea:**

As they sailed back from Antarctica, there were a wide range of emotions. First of course was the relief among the survivors that they would be coming back from it very much alive. For many, they all thought that the operation would be one of the most disastrous in all military history. In fact, orders had been prepared to sail back and abandon the forces on Antarctica should Godzilla have triumphed over them while back home, the government had prepared press releases for such an eventuality. Fortunately though, that would not be the case, in fact, when Admiral Sakai returned to his quarters after the fleet departed for home, he opened a small cabinet and took out a small stack of papers. Looking at it for a moment, the admiral crushed the papers and threw them away.

The second emotion was that of anger among the various services for even though Final Strike was a success, it had come within an inch of being a disaster. Most of it came on the underestimation of the awesome power of the monster but all recognized that human errors also played a significant part. The ground forces complained about the lack of the performance of the air units while the air forces (including naval air units) retaliated by arguing about the complex length of time the troops needed.

As far as General Kitagawa was concerned, such arguments needed to wait until they returned home. He attempted to soothe the bruised egos via giving a speech to the commanders praising all three services for their participation in the battle. Unfortunately it did little for he heard about vicious arguments that nearly broke into fistfights between the ground forces and the air pilots still with the fleet.

That was while he was in his quarters along with the rest of the commanders as they observed the after-action reports from all elements. Many were bone tired and they wanted to rest and some nearly decided not to attend at all. Kitagawa himself was bone tired and exhausted from the combat, in fact he ate some of the food that he usually avoided eating.

He turned to observe the reactions of his colleagues as they read over the same reports. Reynolds was about to break and the two European generals had already broken from the strain and had taken repeated gulps of their drinks in order to steady themselves. Brezarin had a stone cold look on his face as he read the casualty lists for his own contingent and Kitagawa wondered if Russians were actually human after all when it came to the matters of war. He turned back to look at the number for his own country and though stunned, comforted himself with the fact that at least Japan would no longer have to suffer at the hands of the kaiju, at least for the foreseeable future.

From the reports, it seemed that the Japanese contingent suffered the most in terms of total casualties. Kitagawa mused to himself that it wasn't surprising since the Japanese assumed the heaviest burden due to their experience battling the monster. Next to follow were the Americans since they usually worked with the Japanese units, which exposed them to the fury of the kaiju. The Russians followed next and then the miscellaneous units came in last. In terms of the rate of the casualties, the Americans and Russians came in last while the Europeans and Japanese lead the list, due to their smaller size.

After observing the faces of the others, Kitagawa then said to all, "I think we have an idea of what to put in the general report". He then paused before stating, "I imagine that you'll all want to send your individual reports to your respective governments". Everyone nodded and Kitagawa shook his head before stating, "After that I want us all to compile a comprehensive report for when we return to Tokyo". The generals nodded and all started to file out with Reynolds being the last one to leave. He turned around and was about to ask Kitagawa a question but then thought latter about it as he closed the door, leaving the Japanese man to brood very much alone in the cold room.

The _Gotengo_ flew at a low altitude above the waves while repair crews swarmed around her in order to patch up the breaches in her hull. She flew with a skeleton crew with the rest departing for the other ships for fear that if the engines gave out again, she could sink if she landed in the water again. Only the bridge crew remained completely together onboard the ship.

Douglas Gordon stood on the conning tower of the ship while taking a small sip of some liquor. He found the drinks soothing for his bruised psyche despite the potential effects for his health later in the future. Several of his Japanese colleagues soon joined him and they soon started up a conversation about their future plans once they returned home. Gordon had no illusions about where he and the other Americans would report to next for during the rest periods for battle, the American forces listened in to reports about the deteriorating situation in Vietnam.

As for Nakano, he sat in his regular seat on the bridge drinking a sip of his tea while peering over the latest reports. When Ueda arrived at the bridge, Nakano said out loud, "After looking at the lists, I'm really looking forward to retirement when we return home".

Ueda nodded in understanding but then said, "But even with Godzilla defeated, there are other threats that will require the skills and the experience of those like us to combat those threats".

Nakano grimly nodded but then said, "Considering what we went through, any future threat will seem mild". He then paused before continuing, "I've already been through two very large wars and I don't intend to play with karma any further". The captain then finished by stating, "Besides, as you said, its time for a new croup of men to protect the world against the threat from these creatures". That earned a nod from Ueda who also had figured that he had already too many close calls with kami already and wanted to "cash in his winnings".

**Prime Minister's residence, Tokyo: **

Prime Minister Otaki sat at his desk signing papers for tomorrow's business. He should have been asleep but when the first reports of the success of Operation Final Strike started to filter in, he really couldn't sleep. Therefore he was at his desk working late in the night while waiting for updates.

A knock on the door distracted him from his work and he motioned to the visitors to enter. It was the American ambassador Mark Cranston and his foreign minister. They both had been burning the midnight oil with Cranston sending back to Washington the summary of the meetings with Otaki and the others.

Otaki shook hands with the American ambassador and said, "I'm glad you're here to meet with me at this time". He then paused before stating, "I want to congratulate the American forces for their participation in the operation".

Cranston nodded and said, "I will tell the president your thanks and the president wants to thank you for allowing you to use Japan as a staging area for our operations in Southeast Asia". He paused before saying, "I just received word from Washington that they have also been discussing on future events to deal with the threat from the monsters", "They have some ideas but since you've dealt with such cases more regularly, the president wanted to see what you had in mind.

Otaki nodded before stating, "For one thing, we need to figure out how to work together". Cranson was about to say something before Otani continued, "The operation should demonstrate the benefits of all of us working together to deal with this threat", "Although the rest of the world had not suffered as badly as we have, even time you engage these monsters, it ends usually badly".

Cranston nodded but did not say that his own country had the ugly honor having to face one of these beast a lot earlier before Godzilla showed up (if the rumors about New York in the early 1930s were true). He thought about it for a few moments before stating, "The president did suggest that the idea should be deferred to the UN so as to present it in a legitimate light". He then paused before stating, "We should also wait until the fleet returns before pursuing it further". The Japanese Prime Minister graciously dismissed his guests before returning to his previous work.

As both men walked down the hall, Cranston turned to the Japanese foreign minister and replied, "I want to thank you sir for allowing me to present the idea to the prime minister".

The Japanese foreign minister nodded and said, "It would be nice to have help in dealing with the monster threat from the rest of the world". He paused before stating, "We both have a lot of work ahead to pull this off". The American ambassador nodded before taking his leave and returning to his residence.

**Inland Sea, a few weeks later in the early morning: **

As the fleet approached the Inland Sea, the crews on the ships could see the Japanese fishermen awaking for their morning fishing. The fishermen stood up from their boats with large mouths opened and it would not have been a surprise that many on the shore thought that another war had broken out.

For the Japanese, the sight of their homeland brought a sense of relief for they had made it back, and dealt a devastating blow to their country's tormentor. Many hoped that now Japan could finally enjoy peace for the foreseeable future for though there were still threats, they weren't as bad as the threat Godzilla posed ever since 1954.

As soon as the fleet reached the Bungo channel, it split up into smaller formations that soon headed to the ports in the Inland Sea. The fighters had immediately transferred back to their bases while the _Gotengo_ flew back towards its main base at Tsukuba City.

Considering the butcher's bill of the operation, nearly everyone thought angry crowds would greet them with demands for the heads of the planners on a platter. However, with memories of the infamous massacre of Tokyo still fresh in the minds of all Japan, large cheering crowds waited at the docks to greet the heroes for defeating the legendary monster. Many reunions occurred on that day between the troops of the JGSDF and their loved ones with all in tears of joy.

As for the foreign troops that participated in the operation, they received enormous thanks their service and after consultations with the respective countries, the government decided to allow the foreign troops to participate in the celebrations. While the American elements returned to their bases to refit and rest, the rest headed towards assigned areas where they would be allowed to reorganize.

The flagship of the naval component and the carriers set course for the Kure naval base, which was the main base for the former Imperial Japanese Navy. When they arrived, both the generals and admirals on the ships could see the long rows of officers and politicians waiting on the docks. As soon as the _Amatsukaze_ moored herself to the docks, the commanders of Operation Final Strike disembarked to warmly greet those on the docks. Kitagawa and Hakauyate both shook hands with Prime Minister Otaki as they departed from the Japanese warship. Otaki then said, "All of Japan is in debt for your actions general".

Kitagawa nodded before saying, "I'm always honored to serve her and her people". He paused before stating, "Let us hope that Nippon will finally have peace".

Otaki nodded in agreement before saying, "Well then, shall we get the debriefing underway". Both Japanese men nodded and the group soon began to disperse into limousines, which drove them to the local government areas with security forces driving beside them in large numbers. Once they arrived, the group began to filter out and into the building. As they saw what was going on, several began to fear for their lives but Otaki immediately assuage their fears by stating, "We're here for a final debriefing from all of you on the events of the continent". The commanders visibly relaxed as they filed in and soon each took their turn in speaking to the audience.

After hearing the last of the commanders give his own report, Otaki mused for a moment before asking Kitagawa, "Do you believe that the fact that Japan solicited the help of the other nations for assistance contributed to the success of the operation".

Kitagawa looked at his colleagues for a moment as he remembered the difficulties endured in working together due to the past relations between the different countries. He mused about the fact that it took the horrors of battle to forge and in some cases re-forge old allegiances before stating, "Even with some difficulties, I believe so".

Otaki and the others started to whisper to each other for a few moments before he turned back to Kitagawa and said, "Even though Godzilla has been defeated, there are still other creatures raging across the world that we will all eventually have to deal with sooner or later". He paused before continuing, "Do you think that we should continue with such contacts for the foreseeable future". That brought a round of surprise from most of the room, including the Japanese general and he took a moment before stating, "I can't really say for sure but if it were possible then I would agree with it".

The panel absorbed his words for a moment before the Chief of the General Staff replied, "Thank you for your reports gentlemen, you're allowed to leave". Feeling the need to finally relax, the commanders filed out of the room like frightened children. Soon the panelist launched into discussion with each other about Otaki's outburst and its potentials.

As they headed out of to the streets the commanders looked at each other for a few moments before Reynolds asked Kitagawa, "Now can we go to a bar".

Kitagawa just laughed and said, "You still plan on holding me up to that".

Reynolds mused before continuing, "Well after all of this, don't you think we could just drown our sorrows anywhere and perhaps going out for a night on the town would help ensure that everything is back to normal".

Kitagawa laughed at the statement before stating, "Alright then lets head back to our units and rest for a moment before we head out alright". They all nodded before Brezarin added in, "Tonight, I shall introduce you all to a round of the finest vodka". Everyone laughed and both his American and British counterpart both told the Russian that they would hold him to his promise.

**Tsukuba City, late evening: **

The mood on the base was solemn as the survivors attempted to come to terms with the losses their particular group suffered when they looked at the empty moorings besides the _Gotengo_. The group suffered a loss of two-thirds of their strength and as for the ship; she suffered heavy damage and lost a good portion of her crew. For now the ship was empty as the crew went on leave and repair teams struggled to restore her to fighting condition.

Douglas Gordon was busy putting things away in his locker room before he planned to head out and join the party. He was just about finished when Captain Nakano interrupted him. Douglas Gordon smartly saluted before Nakano silenced him, "I hear that you plan to head back to the states in a few days". Gordon nodded before continuing to pack his gear together while Nakano continued, "Right now I'm asking several others to stay on and you were on the list even though you **did** cause a lot of trouble back here in Japan". He paused before stating, "Combined with your actions in Antarctica, well I think that you're qualified to stay on if you wish".

Gordon took a deep breath before stating, "Right now I really have no idea of what I plan to do next". He paused before continuing, "Also with things I have to take care of at home, I want to go back and take care of things there for a while". The Caucasian man then said, "But then I'll have to consider keeping my head low like everyone else is doing these days". Turning to the Japanese commander, he admitted, "So I guess for now you can keep me on the list".

Nakano grunted but then said, "I hope you enjoy your trip home then and hopefully you won't think long about the matter". They both shook hands on the agreement and Nakano left the room while Gordon packed up the last of the gear before heading out to join his colleagues.

**On a special train returning the capital: **

As Otaki rested in his quarters aboard a train heading towards the capital, he took a deep breath at the magnitude of the accomplishment. He had just finished arguing with the ambassadors of the participating nations about a new idea in mind and it had not been fun. Many of the ambassadors replied that they would have to consult their governments and then the governments sent back word their disagreement and worries with the plan. Even Japan's most important ally, the United States, expressed unease at the thought of such an alliance. After long arguments, they all decided to regulate the Japanese prime minister's plan to the UN.

The prime minister took a deep breath in the hope that resorting to such an action would help ensure the safe and expedient acceptance of his plan but knew that it wouldn't be the case. He mused that the best he could expect was a general board acceptance of his idea with modifications suited to each country's special circumstances, "Well at least it would be better than nothing". The leader of Japan then turned around to look at the night sky and felt a shiver as if the night sky was trying to tell him an ugly fact that he would not admit easily. That thought haunted him as well as several other important officials, both military and political, for the foreseeable future.

**Events in the future: **

-After long hard arguments at the UN, the ideas suggested by Prime Minister Otaki were reluctantly accepted and a new organization to combat the threat against the kaiju was formed. It would go under the name of the Earth Defense Force (or EDF). Due to the world situation at the time, the EDF operated in separate groups with centers were established all over the world reporting to general headquarters in Tokyo. It would not be until the 1990s when the UN reformed the EDF to the point where it really could be considered a cohesive **_international_** force.

-Among the weapons used by the EDF was a rebuilt _Gotengo_. Over the years, she had been rebuilt with heavier armor, more weapons and an enlarged hanger to take advanced aircraft. Also, the forward drill could fire a maser beam, which could be switched from standard to ice mode (in order to freeze targets). Eventually, Douglas Gordon, who had distinguished himself in Antarctica and in future battles, would take commander of her despite his temper and constant insubordination.

-At the same time, the UN agreed to the establishment of facilities in Antarctica to maintain surveillance on the monster trapped there. Soon the location where the facilities were to be established earned the name Area G for the special "guest" that rested in hibernation in the area.

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Author's note:**

Well I finally finished a fanfic completely and it has been interesting and somewhat fun. I hope you all enjoyed reading this (especially those that have the same interest in relation to this fanfic that I do).

The relation to the "Events in the future" section was written that way since I kinda felt that you all really didn't need an explanation and it wouldn't serve the events of the main story of my fanfic, which is already finished by then.

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Author's questions:**

So how did I do on this in relation to the other fanfics and in comparison to the Godzilla series itself?

I was considering working on another Godzilla fanfic straight away but considering the lack of writing categories I have dealt with (plus the unfinished work I have with two other fanfics (one of them a Gamera one) I was wondering whether I should switch direction for the moment.

A Middle Eastern conflict with monsters.

Idea: Due to the rising tide of conflicts and death in the Middle East, it becomes a flashpoint for the rebirth of a great darkness not seen since 1995 (Godzilla vs Destroyah). The appearance of the great darkness in the Middle East is a surprise in some ways but not really so in others since the great darkness was born in the Pacific in the wake of World War II. Transferring to the Middle East, old heroes and new warriors must battle to once again defeat the great darkness and attempt to reestablish any hope for peace in bloodstained lands believed to be humanity's birthplace within the world.

Monsters:

Godzilla  
King Ghidorah  
Gigan  
Space Godzilla  
Destroyah  
Mecha-Godzilla  
Mogera  
Mothra  
Battra  
A new monster that is also a winged demon in the same style of Destroyah (just haven't thought of the name yet).

Forces other than the Middle East involved in the fighting:  
United States/Japan  
European Union  
Russia  
China

Timeline: A 3 year war starting in 2007-2008.

Americans/Japanese:

Rear Admiral Andrew Bergen: Former survivor of the Godzilla war and a student of military history in the Middle East.

Rear Admiral Toni Carlson: Female admiral with the fleet, former pilot and close friend to Andrew Bergen as well as a former survivor of the Godzilla war. She acts as his 2nd in command.

General Albert Wedamyer: commander of all US forces Middle East.

Lieutenant General John Ferguson: Commander of US forces within Iraq.

Lieutenant General Vincent Mitchell: a former tank commander who served in the Gulf war and served in Japan. Critical of the former administration since it's polices recreated the darkness he and the others attempted to stop. He is recalled to lead the American contingent of the international forces when Godzilla and the other monsters resurface in the Middle East alongside with many of his old colleagues.

Major General Chuichi Nishimura: commander of the Japanese contingent in Iraq.

Lieutenant-General Daisuke Tachibana: a former survivor of the Godzilla war who lead the Japanese contingent into the Middle East when Godzilla is spotted there along with several other monsters.

Rear Admiral Tatsuya Omori: Commander of the JMSDF contingent patrolling off Afghanistan. Sent to the Middle East when Godzilla returns from the dead and is spotted over there.

Commander Miki Segusa: Telepath who has a dark connection to Godzilla (Godzilla vs. Biolantte-Godzilla vs Destroyah).

Commander Kuroki: Former Commander of the Super X-2 (Godzilla vs. Biolantte) and Super X-III (Godzilla vs Destroyah)

General Takeshi Aso: one of the former top commanders of G-Forces, which was the military wing of the United Nations Godzilla Countermeasures Center.

Director Jisaburo Matsuda: commander of the reestablished United Nations Godzilla Countermeasures Center.

Organizations:  
"The Council": Made up of survivors of the Godzilla wars, ever since 1954, they have kept a close watch from the shadows in preparation for any eventual return of Godzilla. Forgotten almost completely in the aftermath 9/11 as the world shifted to fight terrorism, it has courageously but vainly warned that the actions of the world would eventually resurrect the darkness they fought so hard to stop all those years ago. It consisted mainly of Japanese and Americans but also include small numbers of members from other different nations.

European Union:

Lieutenant General Geoffrey Carver: Commander of British forces stationed in Southern Iraq.

Major General Richard Percival: commander of British forces committed to the battle against the monsters. He had participated in some of the battles in the Godzilla wars but left during the middle of the fighting along with the British contingent.

Major General Swiersczewski: commander of UN peacekeeping forces in the Middle East territories.

Major General Frederic de Valjean: commander of the French forces deployed to the Middle East. Also commands the EU contingent dispatched to the Middle East.

China:

General Chiang Luo: commander of the Lanzhou military region.

Russia:

Colonel General Kostinavich Malinovsky: Commander of North Caucausus Military District:

Lieutenant General Nikolai Borodin: commander of forces in Chechnya.

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And as always, please read and review. I would appreciate it very much.**


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